DETROIT – August is National Minority Donor Awareness Month, which has the goal of bringing awareness to donation and transplantation in multicultural communities.
It’s an initiative between the National Organ, Eye and Tissue Donation Multicultural Action Group (NMAG) aimed at improving the quality of life of diverse communities. They hope to create a positive culture for organ, eye and tissue donation.
More than 100,000 people are waiting for a life-saving organ in the United States. Of those, more than 60% represent racial and ethnic minorities.
“I almost feel like the cat that had nine lives,” organ transplant recipient Michael Love said. “I was diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. ... Which is scarring of the tissue of the lung.”
The disease could have eventually taken his life. Doctors initially gave Love about two years to live. They said he would need a lung transplant in order to survive. He was placed on the National Transplant Registry and then had to wait.
“It is a true test of your patience because all you know is that you’ve been listed and that one is coming. You don’t know when and you’re playing a waiting game,” Love said.
Love received his transplant on Nov. 17, 2015.
“We want everyone to sign up in the Michigan Donor Registry, but particularly minority populations have a greater likelihood to be affected by end-stage organ disease, particularly kidney disease. That makes up the majority of the waiting list in the United States.
Aarolyn McCullough is an organ transplant recipient who needed a liver transplant.
“If I hadn’t got the match, I’m sure that I would have died because they were looking at cancer in my liver,” McCullough said. “They found out that I had an autoimmune disease and that eventually, I would need a liver transplant.”
McCullough received her life-saving organ donation on April 6, 2011. It took over a year and she experienced a number of letdowns before it eventually happened.
“I was listed for 15 months. I had four calls. I received four calls before I was transplanted,” she said. “I have not met them (the donor family). I have written to them. I usually write around the time of my anniversary. ... I like to let them know every so often that I’m doing well and I’m still very appreciative of my donor family.”
Love and McCullough now encourage others to sign up to become organ donors. It’s their passion and they hope to help save the lives of others.