Over 115,000 people across the United States are waiting for a life-saving organ transplant, with 600 of them in Utah. Earlier this week, Utahns who've recently given or received organs met in Salt Lake City to celebrate National Donate Life Month.
Donors and recipients like Dana and Molly met at the Salt Lake City Library's organ donation monument to share the gift of life via organ donation.
Molly had spent 13 years on dialysis waiting for a kidney transplant until Dana came along and donated one of hers.
"They took my kidney which was cute and lovely, and put it in Molly and we got to spend that recovery time together," said Dana.
Dana's story is a reminder that not all organs are donated by the deceased.
"Everyone has two kidneys and we only need one. We could eliminate the kidney waiting list if we could get about 400 people in Utah to step forward and say yes. We could get those people off of dialysis and end their suffering," said Alex McDonald with Intermountain Donor Services.
For more information on organ donation and how to be an organ donor, visit www.yesutah.org.
