'Gift of Life' Transplant Program Marks 40th Year With Call For More Donors
By Jim Melwert
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The Gift of Life organ donation program -- the nation's leading organ donation program, based here in Philadelphia -- is celebrating 40 years.
The celebration recognizes the tens of thousand of lifesaving organ transplants and hundreds of thousands of tissue transplants in the Philadelphia region, while also pointing out the need for more donors.
Diane Bottino's husband died while waiting for an organ:
"Right after he passed, my children and I did a lot of work to raise awareness for organ donation because we know of the critical need."
She says they work to educate people, to ease fears, and debunk myths, all while highlighting the need for donors.
"We have an answer, we have the medical technology and advances and brilliance of doctors and compassion of families that support donation, but not enough people to register," she says. And there's a gap there that we can fill."
