April 5, 2011
Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center was one of 15 Maryland hospitals to participate in “Flags Across Maryland” on Friday, April 1, a statewide campaign to raise awareness of the need for organ, eye and tissue donors during the month of April, which is National Donate Life Month.
With more than 110,000 people nationwide waiting for a life-saving organ transplant, including nearly 2,000 people in Maryland, the need for designated organ, eye and tissue donors has reached an all-time high.
During the ceremony, a flag was raised at Johns Hopkins Bayview to honor all organ, eye and tissue donors. It will remain on display through the end of the month. These donors have given the ultimate gift of life to people like Valerie Murray, a Baltimore resident who received a liver donation.
“I am grateful that I am here,” Murray said during the ceremony. “A person who I will never know has saved my life. This is a gift that can’t be explained.” Murray, a wife, mother and nurse, was diagnosed with liver psoriasis and liver cancer at the age of 38.
Johns Hopkins Bayview has partnered with The Living Legacy Foundation of Maryland (LLF) to provide the community information about the importance of organ, eye and tissue donation. The Living Legacy Foundation of Maryland is a federally designated organ procurement organization dedicated to saving lives by facilitating the process of organ and tissue donation, recovery and transplantation.
More than two million Marylanders have already made the decision to designate themselves donors, either through the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration or the Maryland Donor Registry at www.donatelifemaryland.org.
For more information on organ, eye and tissue donation, please visit the Donate Life Maryland Web site at www.donatelifemaryland.org or call 866-MD-DONOR.
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