BALTIMORE, MD — The stats are staggering:
- Every 8 minutes another person is added to the organ donation wait list
- 16 people die every day waiting for an organ transplant
- One organ, eye, and tissue donor can save and heal more than 75 lives
Those are the numbers from Donate Life.
It all hits a bit differently here at WMAR this Donate Life month because an anonymous donor saved the life of a beloved member of our family.
We don't like to get too personal here, but if reading this draws even one person to sign up to be an organ donor, then it is all worth it.
Darlene has worked at WMAR for decades. We joke she's the "Mom of WMAR." She knows everything, she's a sounding board for so many of us, solves all of our problems, and leads with compassion.
She doesn't just do that for us in Baltimore, she also is the same for our sister stations in Virginia, WTKR and WTVR.
What many didn't know, is that while she has been taking care of us, she has also been living with kidney failure. She was on dialysis for 20 months, it's peritoneal dialysis, which Darlene was able to do at home.
She was on the transplant list for 5 years until she got a call in the overnight hours of Friday, April 5, 2024.
After several failed attempts (thanks COVID) Darlene got the call. "We have a kidney." Her daughters got her to Johns Hopkins Hospital and we are happy to share, that a week later, Darlene is up and moving, feeling a bit sore, but grateful for this new lease on life.
In true Darlene fashion, she can only think of everyone else. She wanted us to first share her gratefulness to the donor. She's still working on the words that seem so much larger than "Thank You."
But she also wanted to share her gratitude for the people who called, did the surgery, cared for her, and got her back home.
So a shout out to: Angela Duckworth, Dr. Benjamin Philosophe, Maggie Connells, Ryan Whisler, Dr. Elias Ghandour, Dr. Kevin Schendel, and the countless other nurses, doctors, and tech staff who provided the best care.
Darlene is home, recovering, and while we can't wait for her to come back to work, we'll just have to.
If you could take a minute, check and make sure your Driver's License has you listed as a donor. If it's something you can do, something you believe in, please sign-up to give life to someone. Someone like Darlene.
