provide comfort, support, education to and for the
benefit of transplant recipients, advanced heart failure
patients, their families; and encourage organ donation.
New Illinois First-Person Consent Organ/Tissue Donor Law/Registry
Aware of the changes? The law took effect on January 1, 2006. It's based on recommendations from the Task Force on Donor Authorization established by Jesse White, Illinois Secretary of State. Plenty of information can be found on Jesse's Life Goes On site.
DON'T WAIT! Signing up is easy and can be done on online.
Critical Heart Disease Statistics
The grim statistics for people with heart disease and heart failure in the United States are astounding. According to the American Heart Association, congestive heart failure affects nearly 5 million people and its prevalence is growing worldwide. Cardiovascular disease causes almost twice as many deaths in the United States as all forms of cancer combined. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 400,000 new cases of heart failure are diagnosed annually and 42,000 deaths are caused by heart disease. The total cost of heart disease in the United States is estimated at nearly $175 billion with approximately 70% of this figure involving hospitalization and nursing home care. To put this huge cost into perspective, the federal government has estimated the costs of relief and reconstruction from hurricane Katrina, the most destructive natural disaster in U.S. history, at $200 billion.
The statistics on the number of people needing life-saving organ transplants are equally grim. On an average, every 13 minutes a new person is added to the organ transplant waiting list and 18 people die each day waiting for a life saving organ from a deceased donor. More than 6,150 people died waiting for an organ transplant in 2004. At the same time, more than 320 people registered for organ transplantation in Illinois died waiting for a life-saving organ. On the other side of the coin, more than 600 people in the upper Midwest have received heart transplants to date.
If you'd like to learn more about our cause, our organization, or about how you can help with a donation of your money or your time, Contact Us with any questions you may have.
