Students at local school say donors save lives

April is National Donate Life Month and students at Compass Academy raised a Donate Life flag Thursday in honor of the month.

The goal was to raise awareness on the importance of organ donations and how many people are in need of an organ.

According to idslife.org, there are currently over 114,000 people are on a waiting list for an organ in the U.S. and over 600 in Utah.

Organdonor.gov reports that each day, about 79 people receive organ transplants. However, 22 people die each day waiting for transplants that can’t take place because of the shortage of donated organs.

Students gave speeches at Thursday’s event and Mayor Rebecca Casper signed a proclamation before the Donate Life flag was raised.

“There are over 120,000 people are on a national waiting list,” Casper said.

She also said that Idaho ranked seventh- highest organ donors nationally.

High school junior Elizabeth Lee said this message is important for everyone.

“I feel like it’s being able to save lives and improve lives and finding a way to make a difference,” Lee said.

Lee is not yet a donor yet but she’s planning on becoming one.

“I’m signing up to be an organ donor when I get my license,” Lee said.

Intermountain Donor Services Coordinator Dixie Madsen said getting your license isn’t the only way to sign up to be a donor.

“If you didn’t make that decision when you got your driver license and you would like to become a donor you can go to YesIdaho.org.”

Jenny Everett Koelsch was at the event Thursday and shared her story.

She was flown out to Salt Lake City for care and was told when she arrived she only had 72 hours to live unless she was able to get a liver transplant.

“My doctor came into the room at about 48 hours of that time frame and said we found Jenny a liver,” Everett Koelsch said.

At the same time, another family was faced with the news that its loved one had passed.

“So my liver came from a woman in Phoenix, Arizona, who had passed and she was 63 years old,” Everett Koelsch said.

Her kidneys had also shut down, but she was lucky that her brother was able to donate his kidney to her.

“Organ donors are very important because without my donor I wouldn’t be here today,” Everett Koelsch said.

Today, she is married with two children and said she wouldn’t have been able to make it through without the support of her family.

“I was 26 when I had my transplant. I had it on my license. And I am for sure going to donate tissue. My kids know about my transplant,” Everett Koelsch said.

She also said it affects everybody not just the elderly.

For more information on how to donate organdonor.gov.