April marks the start of Donate Life Month, and with it the first competition to get the most students to sign up to be organ donors between ASU, NAU and UA.
The Donor Network of Arizona, the only organization in the state that focuses on organ recovery, is sponsoring the Donate Life Campus Challenge, said Kris Patterson, spokeswoman for the Donor Network of Arizona.
“We had seen across the nation other organizations such as [Donor Network of Arizona] start campus challenges, so we thought we would do the same,” Patterson said.
And with April being Donate Life month, Patterson said the Donor Network of Arizona thought it was an appropriate time to put together the first campus competition.
“[Donate Life Month] is to recognize those who have made the choice to be donors and call attention to the need for donors,” Patterson said. She said there are currently more than 1,700 people waiting for an organ donation in Arizona and more than 101,000 across the nation.
To help the cause, a student group at ASU is spearheading the Donate Life Campus Challenge effort at ASU. The Donor Devils are dedicated to raising awareness about organ donation at ASU, said Krissy Mikhova, president of the group. Mikhova said she hopes students sign up to be donors because many people are in need of organ donations.
“It’s important to sign up because it probably affects somebody every student knows,” she said, “especially if they have ailing parents or grandparents.”
And Mikhova knows the importance of organ donations firsthand, as her mother has polycystic kidney disease, she said. Also, Mikhova said she used to work at the Southwest Kidney Institute in Tempe, where patients go to have dialysis treatment.
By working there, she said she witnessed the challenges patients endure when they are in need of an organ donation.
“[Dialysis] basically takes a drain on your lifestyle,” Mikhova said. “It’s a family issue. It’s an ordeal.”
By working at the institute, she was able to share the experience with patients when they received an organ donation, which made it a worthwhile job.
“It’s very fortunate when people match with a donor,” Mikhova said “[At Southwest Kidney Institute], it was a celebration.”
By promoting the Donate Life Campus Challenge, Mikhova said she feels ASU students will be able to make a difference in people’s lives. She said the Donor Devils will be tabling throughout April to educate students about organ donations and sign students up to be donors.
The first tabling session was Wednesday in front of the Tempe campus Memorial Union. The Donor Devils handed out flyers and promotional items to raise awareness about the organ-donation process, and students were able to sign up to be donors.
Travis Carter, a justice studies junior, signed up to be an organ donor Wednesday. He said he felt that by signing up he could make a positive difference in someone’s life in the future.
“If one of my family members needed an organ, I would want someone to donate an organ for them,” Carter said.
Pablo Quintana, an international studies alumnus, was already registered to be an organ donor but visited the Donate Life table to support the cause.
“When I’m deceased, I’m not going to need my organs,” Quintana said. “To give life through death is one of the most important things you can do.”
If students cannot make it to a tabling session, they can register to be a donor online and still be counted toward ASU’s numbers in the challenge. Students can go to DonateLifeAZ.org and in the drop-down box titled “How did you hear about the registry,” select “ASU: Donate Life Campus Challenge.”
Reach the reporter at abigail.gilmore@asu.edu.
