Gift of Life Donor Program Celebrates 50 Years of Saving Lives

The Gift of Life Donor Program, which serves 11.3 million people in eastern Pennsylvania, South Jersey, and Delaware, is honoring 50 years of life-saving efforts. The nonprofit established in Philadelphia has organized the most donors and organs for transplantation of any organ procurement organization in the United States. Nearly 5 million people in the Philadelphia area are registered as organ donors, yet the need remains constant.

The group hopes to sign up 5,000 additional organ donors.

“We encourage everyone to sign up and register. “It only takes about 30 seconds to register, but that 30 seconds could last a lifetime for someone else,” said Rick Hasz, president and CEO. A single organ donor can save up to eight lives. One tissue donor can help heal around 100 patients.

Freeway, a celebrity ambassador and Philadelphia hip-hop recording artist, says he feels grateful to have gotten a kidney after being diagnosed with kidney failure. “I did four hours of dialysis three times a week, from Feb. 16, 2015, all the way to Feb. 5, 2019, when I received my gift of life,” the man stated.

“I received a second chance at life. And I have not looked back since, you know. Everything has been going well. I’m cherishing every minute, you know, and trying to give back as much as possible.” Freeway has also seen the other side of the procedure, as a member of a donor family. When a loved one dies, donor families are frequently called upon to make a selfless decision in the middle of unbearable grief to save lives.

“Thank God that I had that knowledge, you know, because when my son passed away, he saved four lives,” Freeway went on to say. “Two people received his kidneys. One individual received the liver, while the other received the lungs. “He was a hero, even in passing.”

April is also National Donate Life Month, and Freeway will take part in the Gift of Life Donor Dash fundraiser on April 28. “Donation and transplant don’t happen unless we have the kindness of strangers,” Hasz pointed out. “Quite honestly, it’s just an amazing gift that these families can give, and they’re truly the real heroes.”