Organ & Tissue Donor Registry

Officials who help run Michigan’s organ and tissue donor registry are visiting the U.P. this week to highlight the importance of giving the gift of life.

Staff from Gift of Life Michigan was visiting the Marquette Secretary of State branch office today.

They were encouraging staff and customers to join the state’s donor registry.

One person can save up to 50 lives by doing that, and it’s free of charge.

There are no age restrictions, either.

One of the ways to sign up is to do so at Secretary of State branches when applying for a driver’s license.

Kim Zasa, the Secretary of State liaison for Gift of Life Michigan, says more and more Michiganders are becoming aware of the need for donors — the registry had an all-time record month in August with more than 50,000 new members — and she says the Secretary of State is a very important partner in that awareness effort.

She says there are 3,000 people in Michigan on waiting lists for various organs or tissue, and some of them will die before a donor match can be found.

Many people also believe that you can’t donate if you’ve ever received a transplant, but you can.

The only catch is that you can’t donate whatever organ you received when you had your your transplant.

If you want more information about how to join the organ and tissue donor registry, you can find it on the Michigan Department of State’s website or Gift of Life Michigan’s website.