ATLANTA – In observance of National Donate Life Month this April, the Emory Transplant Center raised a “Donate Life” flag in honor and support of organ and tissue donation and transplantation. The flag will fly outside of Emory University Hospital for the remainder of the month.

The flag raising recognizes the generosity of organ, eye and tissue donors and their families who gave selflessly so others could live. It also serves as a display of unity, remembrance and hope and commemorates those who have donated an organ, received an organ or are waiting for an organ transplant.

According to the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), more than 107,000 men, women and children across the U.S. need a lifesaving organ transplant. In Georgia alone, more than 4,200 people are on the waiting list to receive a new organ.

“We want to take this opportunity to thank donors and their families for caring about others, even those they don’t know,” says Jennie Perryman, PhD, RN, director of policy and outcomes management for the Emory Transplant Center. “Remarkably, in 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, there were 1,049 organ transplants performed in Georgia. That is an amazing number of transplants.”

“National Donate Life Month is a time to encourage Americans to register as organ, eye and tissue donors and remember those who have given life to others through the gift of donation,” says Thomas Pearson, MD, DPhil, executive director of the Emory Transplant Center and professor of surgery at Emory. “We could not help patients who need new organs without their donors, and to them, we are grateful.”