Senate adopts Benton resolution calling attention to the need for life-saving organ donors

April 6, 2007

OLYMPIA…The Senate today adopted a resolution sponsored by Sen. Don Benton, R-Vancouver, recognizing April as Organ Donor Awareness Month.  

“You may not be able to single out those who have courageously chosen to donate an organ to save a life,’ Benton told his colleagues, “but there many in this state who have done so. These individuals are sometimes the only hope that a mother or father has for a son or a daughter who is clinging life hoping for a miracle. 

“One organ donor can save the lives of up to eight people and enhance the lives of more than 50 people,” Benton said. “The sad truth is that organ donation is not common enough. About 90 percent of the population in recent surveys show that they actually support organ and tissue donation, but only 41 percent of the people in our region have chosen to participate in that program.” 

The resolution, SR 8678, was the idea of Mike Sivley of Vancouver, Wash. Sivley, the recipient of a donated liver, is working to increase awareness of the need for donated organs. Sivley is married with two young sons. He received his liver transplant two years ago at the VA Hospital in Portland, Ore., and recovered at the VA facility in Vancouver, Wash. 

“Mike, whom I’ve known for many years, is here today because of the gift of life from an organ donor,” Benton said at a news conference following adoption of the resolution. 

Also participating in the news conference was Department of Health Secretary Mary Selecky, whose father’s corneas were donated to give sight to two people when is died in 1960. Selecky read the proclamation by Gov. Gregoire declaring April Donor Awareness Month in Washington state. 

Shirley Harney-Taylor, a “donor mother” and board member of the Living Legacy Foundation, also spoke at the news conference. Harney-Taylor’s son died when he was 16 and his organs were donated to save other people’s lives. She is a strong advocate for education about organ donation. 

“Last year, 36 people in our community died waiting for an organ transplant, three of them were children,” Harney-Taylor said. 

More than 90,000 Americans are waiting for organ transplants. Every day, 18 people die waiting for a transplant.  

People can join the organ donor registry on line at www.livinglegacyregistry.org. They can also become an organ donor when they apply for or renew their Washington state driver’s license.

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Additional contact Penny Drost at (360) 786-752