Hello, this is Governor Janet Mills, and thank you for listening.
This week, I joined organ donors and their loved ones at the State House. We proclaimed April as "Organ Donation Month" in Maine.
The number of Maine people who received organ transplants has nearly doubled from 66 to 124, just in the last five years. I read recently about one of those transplant recipients, an eight-year-old girl named Emily from Sanford. While they were waiting for Emily's lung transplant, her mother said she remembered thinking "I may not have a daughter on Mother's Day. We were planning for her funeral."
Well, no family should ever have to experience that kind of fear, not when each of us can give the gift of life to someone in need just by signing up to be an organ donor.
When Emily's mom got the call that a matching donor had been found for her daughter, she said, "In that moment, the only feeling was one of hope."
Last year, 648 donors saved more than 1,500 lives in New England. I am proud that about 700,000 Maine people, including myself, are signed up to be organ donors. That's half of Maine's population. But there are still thousands of people who are praying this very minute for a matching donor and for the chance to live a long and healthy life. You could be the answer to those prayers.
Just one organ donor can save up to eight lives and can improve the quality of life of many other people through tissue donation. I've heard many donor families say that in the aftermath of the loss of their loved one, it brings them some solace to know that their loved one's legacy lives on through the lives they touched, and healed, and helped.
Sign up to be an organ donor simply by checking that box whenever you renew your license at the Bureau of Motor Vehicles. And/or sign up on the National Donate Life Registry at www.RegisterMe.org. It's a very simple form to fill out.
There are people waiting now for a kidney donation or tissue donation that you can give now. That's www.RegisterMe.org to see if you are a match for someone else in need.
Celebrate National Donate Life Month by becoming an organ donor today. Give the gift of hope, and the gift of life, and health to families across Maine and across this country.
This is Governor Janet Mills, and thank you for listening.