Organ donors give hope and life to others. Kansas City, here’s how you can help | Opinion

As the old adage goes: If you love what you do, you will never work a day in your life. I’ve recently discovered just how much this rings true for a local team of unsung heroes: the men and women of Midwest Transplant Network, a nonprofit responsible for driving organ, eye and tissue donation across all of Kansas and western Missouri.

April is National Donate Life Month, when we honor our country’s organ donors and their families who selflessly give life and hope to others. Throughout that entire process, Midwest Transplant Network provides a foundation of support and comfort while managing the arduous job of safely recovering organs from deceased donors and getting them to patients in need.

As a federally designated organ procurement organization, MTN and its leaders recognize the importance of collaboration to save lives and honor legacies. They partner with hospitals, labs, civic associations, volunteer groups and others who make up the health care and nonprofit ecosystems of our city and beyond.

I’ve lived and worked in Kansas City for more than 40 years, yet never realized the full scope of MTN’s daily impact until they invited me to join their advisory board and I saw how much this passionate team does for our community.

Last year, MTN facilitated almost 1,000 organ donations for transplant in partnership with local hospitals and transplant centers, marking a new all-time record for our region. Within that total were 488 kidneys, 218 livers, 107 hearts, 148 lungs, 22 pancreases and five intestines. Those are not mere numbers; each organ transplanted represents a life saved. I get goose bumps just thinking about them. MTN also enables tissue and cornea donation, through which each individual donor can enhance 100 lives.

Headquartered in Westwood, many of MTN’s staff members have personal experiences with donation, having friends or family who became donors or received a transplant. But all of them are committed to giving grieving families the solace they need and reassuring them that their loved ones’ legacies will live on.

MTN also connects donor and transplant recipient families, who often wish to meet one another to share heartfelt stories and memories of the donor. These family meetings are very, very emotional, yet also amazingly uplifting.

There are more than 100,000 people across the country waiting for a lifesaving transplant, including thousands in our region. Someone is added to that list every eight minutes.

If you look at the bottom of your driver’s license, you will hopefully see the word “donor” and a red heart. If you don’t, then as a husband, father and proud member of the Kansas City community, I urge you to consider registering as an organ donor just as my family and I have done. Make the gift that keeps on giving.

Please visit ShareLifeMidwest.com to join the registry and learn how you can become a hero today.

Jeff Goble is president of Goble Consulting Group and serves as a member of the 501(c)(3) nonprofit Midwest Transplant Network’s advisory board.