A proclamation was signed by Bedford County Mayor Chad Graham declaring April as Organ Donation Awareness Month.

During the proclamation signing two new members were inducted into the county’s Donate Life chapter: Kim Reed and Brian Riddle.

Pam Cooper, who’s had both kidneys and her liver replaced, knows she is blessed. “It’s very humbling to think you were fortunate to get them while others are waiting. Just praise God. I guess He just wanted me to do more before I get to heaven,” she said. She was a liver recipient in 1991, and received kidneys twice, once in 1997 and another in 2016.

Reed also had a liver transplant 17 month ago. She said she was “near death’s door,” suffering from liver cancer, until she received the donated organ. “It’s unbelievable. When I woke up from my transplant, I felt like a totally different person,” she said. “I am so honored.”

See the Times-Gazette next week for the full story.

Donate Life in Bedford is led by Donna Orr, the county’s ambassador for the program, who remains involved in garnering local support for organ donation since her husband, David twice received a double lung transplant. He passed back in 2015. 

According to the United Network of Organ Sharing (UNOS), more than 112,000 people are waiting for organ transplants nationally. And according to Tennessee Donor Services and Donate Life Tennessee, more than 3,000 of those people are in Tennessee.

An average of 22 people awaiting transplants die each day due to the severe shortage of donated organs, while every 10 minutes another name is added to the national transplant waiting list.

The Tennessee Department of Safety and Motor Vehicles and County Clerk Organ Donor Foundation plays a critical role in maintaining the Tennessee state donor registry, with 98% of donors having registered when receiving their Tennessee driver's license or ID card.

One organ donor can save the lives of up to eight people and improve the lives of many more through tissue and cornea donation. Tennesseans who decide to become donors must check "yes" to donation, therefore placing a heart on their driver's license, and enroll on a donor list.