The human body has 78 organs. Due to illness or injury, if one of your organs fails, you may need a transplant. An organ transplant is when doctors remove a healthy organ from one person and place it in the body of another. The organ may come from a living donor or a deceased donor. Whatever the origin, becoming an organ donor offers hope to thousands of people each year in need of a transplant. Daily, about 79 people receive an organ transplant. Eighteen others, however, will die waiting for a transplant that can't take place because of an organ shortage. Every 10 minutes another name is added to the waiting list. Among the major organs regularly transplanted are heart, lung, pancreas and small intestine. However, the two organs most consistently transplanted are the kidney and the liver. In this program, we will discuss the importance of organ donation and transplantation, hear from leading researchers in the field, visit with patients and family members whose lives have been changes by having received an organ transplant, and go to "The Transplant Games" in Houston, Texas, as donation recipients show firsthand how organ transplantations change lives.
