Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Urges Parents To Remember Organ Donation
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - April is "National Donate Life Month," and local families are pleading with potential donors to remember the youngest on the waiting list and sign up to give the "gift of life."
Currently, 64 children are waiting for organs at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Three-year old Riley O'Brien of Somerdale (Camden County), NJ has been on the list for a new heart and two lungs for half his young life.
His mother, Carol, understands what a donor family will go through.
"Not a day goes by that we don't think what it will take for them to give up their child's organs," she says. "It's going to be a tragic situation, and I know that the minute my phone rings that another mom is saying goodbye to their child."
As he waits, Riley gets sicker. And what if that phone call doesn't come?
"He's going to die," Carol O'Brien says tearfully.
Experts say one donor can save eight lives, restore sight to two people, and help up to 50 others through tissue donation.
For more information, go to chop.edu/transplant.
Reported by Lynne Adkins, KYW Newsradio 1060.
