Transplant facts

As an organ and tissue donor, a person can choose to donate his or her heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, pancreas, eyes, bones, and tissue for transplantation or medical research. Organs are successfully transplanted daily, and many patients are able to resume those activities they enjoyed before receiving the transplant. And although organ transplants frequently save lives, hundreds of thousands of patients each year can have their eyesight restored, an arm or leg saved from amputation, or a sports injury corrected as a result of a cornea, bone, or other tissue transplant. Organ transplants have become so routine that many kidney transplant recipients are released from the hospital within one week of receiving their transplant. Likewise, liver transplant recipients may be sent home in three weeks, and heart transplant recipients in less than two weeks. For more information on transplant facts, contact a local organ donation center.