The City of Springfield and the office of the Secretary of State of Illinois capped off National Donate Life Month on Monday, congratulating the charity and sacrifice of the Springfield community and of citizens of Illinois.
“We currently have 7.6 million people registered in the organ and tissue donor registry in Illinois,” said Damarius Blanks, a Central Illinois coordinator for the Illinois Secretary of State’s Organ/Tissue Donor Program. “That means 74% of Illinois residents are registered.”
In an event held Monday morning at Springfield Clinic Pediatrics on Old Jacksonville Road, Banks presented an official state proclamation recognizing Gift of Hope, Eversight, and ImpactLife — three organizations which provide support for the state’s program.
Courtney Welch of Saving Sight highlighted the exceptional kindness of the Springfield community: “In 2023 alone, in partnership with local hospitals of Springfield, Illinois, 203 families made the selfless decision to donate their loved ones’ corneas and gave 215 patients suffering from corneal diseases and injuries a new chance at life with sight.”
Mike Disco, Springfield Mayor Misty Buscher’s Chief of Staff, was present to express both his and the City’s gratitude for the work of its medical community. “ImpactLife has been important to me for a long time,” said Disco. He added, “I’ve donated almost nineteen gallons of blood… We’ve heard so many important stories of why donations are important – be it blood or organs.”
Indeed, the need for those donations is sorely felt. Data from the American National Red Cross indicates that nearly 30,000 units of blood are needed daily across the country, for an annual total of 11,000,000 units. A transfusion is necessary every 2 seconds. Red blood has a limited storage life, and its use is strongly dependent on blood type, with supplies of appropriate types being sometimes difficult to guarantee.
Jim Watts, who is ImpactLife’s Manager for Regional Development and Government Relations in Springfield, explained that blood donations are in short supply year-round: “In all reality, only 3% of the population donates blood. If we had regular people donating blood even one or two times a year, we wouldn’t have any blood shortages whatsoever.”
During organ transplant surgery, explained Watts, a patient may require over 30 units (approx. 30 pints, or nearly 4 gallons) of blood during surgery.
Over 170 million people in the US are registered as organ donors. At 7.6 million currently registered donors, Illinois sits at almost double the national average for donorship registration. Yet only 3 in every thousand registered donors die in such a way that their organs can be donated.
“Every 87 minutes, someone on [the organ waitlist] dies before they can receive the gift of life,” said Springfield Memorial Hospital Nurse Manager Valerie Krohe. “There are over 103,000 women, men and children on this list. You very well could know someone on there and not even realize it.”
Some of those present at Monday’s event took the opportunity to remember the impact their loved ones’ donations had on others.
Addressing the public, Sangamon County Coroner Jim Allmon recalled the loss of his daughter Madeline almost 7 years ago: a registered donor, she passed away after a car accident. But yet, as her father explained: “What transpired as a result of Madeline’s donations has really helped change her story — her corneas went to a five year old girl in New York; her heart valves went to a gentleman at St. John’s Hospital. The impact that she’s had on so many lives since then is what gives her parents the strength to keep going, and to keep talking about it.”
“Gift of Hope gives the recipient hope,” said Allmon, “but they also give the donor families hope.”
