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Right now 744 people in Utah are waiting for a life-saving transplant

Posted at 2:19 PM, Apr 01, 2019
and last updated 2019-04-01 16:19:17-04

April is National Donate Life Month and a great time to consider saying "Yes" to organ donation.

Alex McDonald from Intermountain Donor Services joined Kingslee Teo, a recent donor, to talk about what it takes to be a donor.

Intermountain Donor Services encourages people to say yes on their drivers license, state ID, or online and let doctors make the decision at the appropriate time.  If you don't have room on your license, you can go online to yesutah.org and register.  That will override a "no" on the driver's license.

It's very important to let your family know your wishes if they are ever confronted with the decision.

Right now in Utah there are 744 people waiting for a life-saving transplant.  Here's how it breaks down:

522 kidneys

133 livers

1 pancreas

20 kidney/ pancreas

66 heart

2 lung

There is also a living kidney donation possibility -- though heroes like our own Big Budah's son Kingslee Teo, who was willing to go to surgery for someone else that isn't family.  He donated a kidney to a co-worker's husband.

You can find more information at yesutah.org.