April is National Donate Life Month

Instead, the driver took off, dragging Daniel. He survived, and still works for the department today.

If he would have died, his organs would have been donated to someone within his family or within the LifeSharers network, an organization in which people have the first priority for donated organs from other members.

Bonnie Besseck signed up her husband and children, 18, 16 and 13, before that December incident. The Bessecks discuss planning for death openly, she said.

‘‘In our family, we’ve always been open about our wishes at times of death,” she said.

A letter to the editor in The (Baltimore) Sun by LifeSharers executive director David Undis prompted her to join. ‘‘Hopefully it prompts other people to have that discussion,” she said. ‘‘I think the biggest obstacle to organ donation is that families don’t discuss it.”

During April, which is National Donate Life Month, the organization is trying to increase the discussion of organ donation, Undis said.

LifeSharers has more than 8,000 members in the United States, double what it had the previous year, according to a press release. The organization relies on donations to operate, and staff is unpaid, according to its Web site.

Members must be a registered donor and specify to whom they want their organs donated. If the people on the list do not need them, then the members of LifeSharers will be given priority.

If no one from the group is eligible, the organs would go to people on the national organ waiting list.

It is not something most people want to talk about, Undis said ‘‘Organ donation is an unpleasant donation, because it forces you to think about your own death,” he said in a telephone interview.

‘‘Altruism is not a strong enough motivator to resolve organ shortage,” he added.

The organization has not yet had a member die where their organs needed to be recovered, he said. Forty members who are on the national waiting list qualify for LifeSharers members’ organs at this time, according to the LifeSharers Web site.

But the system is in place to make it fairer, he said.

About half of organs transplanted in the country go to people who did not make the decision to donate their organs when they die, he said. His company directs them first to people who have made that decision.

‘‘If you’re ever unlucky enough to get an organ transplant, chances are you’re going to die waiting,” he said.

One of the misconceptions about organ donations is that if you are ill, your organs are unusable, Undis said.

For the most part, that is untrue, he said, adding anyone can sign up on his list. ‘‘We don’t exclude anyone due to preexisting medical limitations,” he said.

However, members must wait 180 days until they have access to organs, according to the Web site.

Besseck, who is in good health and is a frequent blood donor, thought it would be good idea to sign up for it. ‘‘I think having those discussions frequently, not waiting until someone is ill, gives you a different perspective,” she said.

Besseck said she thinks the system makes good out of a bad situation. ‘‘There’s a long list of people waiting for organs,” she said. ‘‘It’s unfortunate that someone has to die to have a heart available, but you can make some good out of that.”

She sympathizes with people who believe the LifeSharers system is unfair because it gives blanket approval to people on the list before the national list, she said.

‘‘Everybody has their own beliefs,” she said. ‘‘Not everybody believes that their organs should be donated to someone else for their own cultural or religious reasons, but you would hope there would be far fewer people that way vs. the people who do donate their organs.”

The choice is a personal one and should be honored, she said. ‘‘I personally made my decision, and I don’t think my family should overrule it,” she said.

To Learn More

For information on LifeSharers, visit www.lifesharers.org or call 1-888-ORGAN88.