16 people will die today waiting for an organ that could come from a living donor.
At the American Transplant Foundation, we save lives to solve tod
ay’s growing transplant crisis by creating opportunities for people to become living donors and supporting transplant recipients in crisis during their fight for the Second Chance at Life.
Today, there are over 105,000 Americans awaiting a kidney or liver transplant; almost 2,000 of them are kids. In fact, 16 people will die today awaiting an organ that could be donated by a living person. For us, that is far too many. How would you feel if it was you or someone you loved?
Organ donor registration is simply not enough to address one of our country’s most pressing health issues. Even if every single American registers as an organ and tissue donor, there would still be a drastic shortage in organs available for transplantation. The American Transplant Foundation goes beyond awareness by eliminating barriers to living donation and providing real help to real families.
By increasing the number of people who are willing to become living donors, we can reduce the number of people who die every day awaiting a life-saving transplant.
How do we do this?
- By offering critical financial assistance to transplant recipients as well living donors to offset lost wages that occur while they’re donating an organ.
- Through educating and mentoring people on the importance and process involved in transplant or being a kidney or liver living donor.
- By providing educational and emotional support to transplant patients and those who are waiting for heart, lung, pancreas, intestines, liver, and kidney.
- By creating innovative solutions to transplant crisis such as the Potential Living Donor Database
- By fighting for better legislation on both the state and federal levels to protect the rights of living donors, transplant recipients, and those on the list.
The result is that more people are willing and able to become living organ donors than ever before. More people are able to get a lifesaving transplant and keep it. But the need is great. We need your help to broaden our reach, to help even more people and to ultimately save lives.
Together, we are changing things.
Economic Impact of Our Work
The American Transplant Foundation works to save millions of taxpayers’ dollars annually. For every two patients who are no longer on dialysis thanks to a transplant, Medicare saves over 1 million over 10 years. Currently, Medicare spends over $34 billion on ESRD management – the highest amount ever.
If 95,000 patients who are on the waiting list for a kidney were able to get a transplant, it would cost about $3 billion more initially, but after the first year, the government would save $5 billion annually.
How much money is Medicare spending per patient?
Dialysis patients: 350k patients @$88K/yr per patient = $30 billion per year
Transplant patients: $100K (first year) and $19K annually after the first year (anti-rejection meds)
How many people in our country are affected? How many are at risk?
- The number of adults living with kidney disease is almost 3 times greater than the number with cancer – 31 million; 90% don’t know they have it.
- 550,000 Americans require dialysis or kidney transplantation for survival.
- Each year, more than 88,000 Americans die from causes related to kidney failure.
