Organ Transplant Donors, Recipients to Share Stories at Intermountain Transplant Storytelling Festival

NEWS ADVISORY

Patients, families, friends and caregivers from across Utah and Idaho will join together to share in the emotional journey of transplantation through storytelling on Sat. April 27 and celebrate the gift of life made possible through organ donation.

As part of National Donor Awareness Month, the Intermountain Healthcare Transplant Program has invited all those impacted by organ donation to come and tell their story in hopes of building stronger bonds within the transplant community and to encourage others to register as an organ donors.

This is the second year for the Intermountain Transplant Storytelling Festival. Donors, donor families, and recipients of heart, liver, kidney, pancreas and bone marrow will share their stories during a three-hour, open-house event. Attendees are also invited to preserve their unique stories for future generations, by recording their personal transplant-related stories on camera.

“Organ donation is truly a gift of life. Recipients are able to live longer, happier lives because someone was willing to give them a kidney, heart, pancreas, liver or bone marrow,” said Diane Alonso, MD, medical director of Intermountain Healthcare’s abdominal transplant program. “You have the power to help. If you donate your organs, you could save up to eight lives and benefit the lives of more than 40 others.”

Last year, the Intermountain Healthcare Transplant Program at Intermountain Medical Center, which serves patients from throughout the nation, performed 147 transplants – 85 kidneys, 39 liver, 17 heart, four kidney/pancreas, and two pancreases.

Every 10 minutes another person is added to the transplant waiting list. Currently 114,000 men, women and children await a lifesaving organ transplant. To register as a living organ donor for kidney or a portion of your liver go to: http://www.intermountainhealthcare.org/DonateLife

To register as an organ donor, check “Yes,” on your driver license application.

When: Sat. April 27, 2019 from 2 p.m. – 5 p.m.

Where: Intermountain Medical Center – Education Auditorium (Bldg. #6)

5121 S. Cottonwood Street, Murray, UT 84107

(Parking is available just east of the Education Center)

Note: Public and media invited to attend.

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