The Need for Donations
Did You Know?
- One out of every 20 Texans will need blood at some point of their lives
- It takes eight whole blood donations to provide the effective dose of one apheresis blood donation
- Each year 20 million blood components are transfused
Blood is a vital, life-saving liquid with a limited shelf life, so the supply must be constantly replenished. Althought one out of every 20 Texans will need blood at some point in their lives, ess than five percent of the eligible population in Texas donates blood. Supply and demand fluctuate, which can cause life-threatening shortages!
Marrow or Blood Stem Cells
- There are over 750 patients in Texas searching the registry for a matched donor (Texas ranks #2 in the nation for patients searching for a match)
- 690,900 Texans have joined the Be The Match Registry in hope of helping patients in need
- 3,062 Texans have donated marrow to patients in need through the registry.
Each year, 30,000 patients are diagnosed with a life-threatening disease that could be cured with a marrow transplant - if a match is found. Approximately 70 percent of the patients in need of a transplant rely on the National Marrow Donor Program to locate a volunteer, unrelated marrow donor on the Be The Match Registry. Finding a marrow donor match is a difficult process and nearly half of those in need will not find a match on time
Organ or Tissue Donation
- Each day, an average of 18 people die while waiting for an organ
- There are over 77 organs and tissues that can be transplanted
- There are currently 120,000 people awaiting a life-saving organ transplant - 12,000 of those are in Texas
Transplantation is one of the most remarkable success stories in the history of medicine. It is often the only hope for thousands of people suffering from organ failure or in desperate need of a life-enhancing or life-saving tissue.
Organs than can be transplanted include heart, liver, lungs, kidney, pancreas and small bowel. Tissues used in transplant include bone, skin, heart valves, corneas, veins, cartilage and tendons. Texans can now register their intention to donate at www.donatelifetexas.org