ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times

DATE: Thursday, March 6, 1997                TAG: 9703060059
SECTION: CURRENT                  PAGE: NRV-16 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: ANGIE WATTS 

MOST WAIT 2 YEARS FOR DONOR ORGAN

Almost 35,000 people in the United States are awaiting a kidney transplant, said Mark Sampson of the United Network for Organ Sharing.

The typical waiting time for a transplant in 1994 was more than two years, although the time varies depending on each patient's medical condition, Sampson said.

"There is a national crisis right now because there just aren't enough donors. The wait time would decrease substantially if the consent rates [for organ donation] went up."

Consent comes not at the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles, where drivers can indicate on their license their wishes to be an organ donor, but at the hospital.

"Signing your donor card is one thing, but it boils down to what happens in the hospital when the person dies," Sampson said.

"Signing the donor card on your driver's license is not enough. A representative from the Organ Procurement Center will ask the family or next of kin for permission to donate organs. The family can overrule what was indicated on the license."

The most important thing for people to do is inform their family of their wishes to become an organ donor upon death, Sampson said. That is the bottom line.

"They [organs] don't do you any good after you're dead," urged Russ Spangler, who is now awaiting his second kidney transplant. "You don't need them anymore, but you can give life to someone else by donating your organs."

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