Organ transplant recipients and donors celebrate the gift of life at Goucher College event
BALTIMORE -- There are more than 4,000 people across Maryland and in the Washington, D.C., area who are waiting for an organ transplant.
On Sunday, transplant recipients and their organ donors were celebrated during an event at Goucher College.
The celebration—hosted by the Infinite Legacy Annual Ceremony of Remembrance—had two goals. First, it aimed to connect recipients with organ donors and their families. Also, it drew attention to the importance of organ donation.
"I, myself, have been an organ donor since I was 17 years old when I received my driver's license," organ recipient Danette Ragin said. "Had no idea what I was getting myself into but if I was helping someone, I was going to do so."
Ragin is a two-time organ recipient, and several of her family members have donated their organs.
She and dozens of other people attended the Saturday event thrown by the nonprofit organ procurement organization.
During the event, several people shared their stories about organ donation.
There was a special tribute slideshow that displayed pictures of donors in the Baltimore-Washington area, too.
"They get to hear how their loved ones' donation benefited the lives of organ and tissue recipients," Erin Bauer of Infinite Legacy Annual Ceremony of Remembrance said. "One individual donor can save the lives of eight people."