CHARLESTON, W.Va. — There’s been an increase in organ donations in West Virginia.
The Center for Organ Recovery & Education (CORE) recently reported a record breaking numbers for a fourth year in a row for the Saving and Healing non-profit.
Cheryl King, community outreach coordinator at CORE said the goal is to save more lives through organ, tissue and cornea donation. She said they’ve been spreading the word and think it’s helped their efforts.
“We are thinking that our outreach is the key for these increases in donations,” King said.
In West Virginia, western Pennsylvania and Chemung County, Ny., there was a 23 percent increase in organ transplants made possible by 324 donors.
The most notable transplant was for hearts, which rose by 51 percent from 2021.
There were 454 kidney transplants, 89 heart transplants and 1,073 cornea transplants.
In West Virginia, there were 241 organs transplanted in 2022 which is up from 223 in 2021.
CORE also reported its second highest number of tissue donors in 2022 with more than 1,200 donors.
Meanwhile, the need for organ donors continues to grow, King said. There are almost 500 people in West Virginia waiting for a transplant.
“I love our state, but we are not in a very big state. To think that that many people need someone to think of others, it’s just a mind blowing number,” she said.
King said people can donate their organs while they’re still alive.
“People don’t realize that the number one organ needed across the United States is a kidney, so a lot of people choose to be organ donors that way even as living organ donors,” she said.
King added one person can save multiple lives no matter their age.
West Virginia currently has the oldest organ donor in history in the U.S.
“He was 95 years old and he donated his liver to a lady in her 60s in Florida. She’s still living because of that donation,” King said.
To register as an organ, tissue or cornea donor, visit core.org/register.