Have a heart; donate organs

April is National Donate Life Month, a time to encourage people to join the Illinois donor registry.

Nearly 4,700 Illinoisans are in need of lifesaving organ transplants, and one in every 20 Americans will need some sort of medical tissue transplant in their lifetime. Donate Life Illinois encourages everyone to take 30 seconds to register online as an organ/tissue donor. Just one organ donor can save the lives of as many as eight people, and one tissue donor can enhance the lives of as many as 50 people - one person can make a big difference.

Please go to www.DonateLifeIllinois.org to learn more about organ, tissue, and eye and blood donation and to register, or visit your local driver's license facility.

The need is great, and each of us has the power to change the lives of those who are desperately waiting. Please take 30 seconds out of your day to register to be a donor, and share this message with your families, friends, colleagues and community.

I am a heart transplant recipient and am grateful to have been given a second chance at life.

Team Illinois, consisting of more than 70 athletes who have received transplants, 17 living donors, 19 donor families and many, many supporters will represent Illinois in the 2010 U.S. Transplant Games being held July 30-Aug. 4 in Madison, Wis.

Go Team Illinois, www.team-illinois.org and www.transplantgames.org.

Donna Stout

Batavia