Mayor encourages organ donation
On Tuesday, La Cañada Flintridge Mayor Dave Spence officially declared April 2016 “DMV/Donate Life California Month,” to raise awareness of the vital need for blood, organ and tissue donation at both the state and national levels.
Monica O’Brien, area resident and three-time liver transplant recipient, accepted a proclamation from the mayor and addressed council members about improving the statistics associated with organ donation and transplantation.
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She encouraged Californians to check the organ donation box when applying for or renewing their driver’s licenses.
“There are currently 122,000 Americans on the transplant list. More than 20,000 of them are Californians. And that number grows every day,” O’Brien said. “We’re plugging away, very slowly but very diligently, to get more Californians to check ‘yes’ and to be donors and to save lives and bring hope.”
O’Brien invited interested council members and local residents to join a “Donate Life Run/Walk” April 30 at Cal State Fullerton, from 8 a.m. to noon. There, participants will attempt to break a Guinness World Record by having 551 organ recipients simultaneously gathered at one event. For more information, visit donatelifeoc.org.
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Sara Cardine, sara.cardine@latimes.com
Twitter: @SaraCardine
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