Our book found its way into the hands of Laura Schweizer, a friend of a friend and co-host of Local on 2 Live in Nashville. Laura contacted us after reading the book to share that she loved it and was struck by so much of it and asked if Carrie and I would come onto the show to talk about it. And so on September 3, 2024, Carrie and I went on the show to talk about my story, and how the book came to be. We knew we only had 4 ½ to 5 minutes with the co-hosts, Laura and Stephanie, so we knew we wouldn’t be able to talk about everything we wanted to. I’d like to share a link to the interview for those who missed it, and also provide some essential information about organ donation that we did not have time on the show to address.
Following are some important numbers and statistics to keep in mind about organ donation:
- Every 9 minutes in the U.S., another person is added to the transplant list.
- There are 100,000 people in the U.S. waiting for their lifesaving transplant.
- 16 people die each day waiting for their transplant.
- According to https://www.organdonor.gov/, over 90% of adults support organ donation but only 60% say “yes” to being an organ donor at the DMV or other avenues where they can self-elect. And in the state of Tennessee, only just over 40% of the population elects to be an organ donor.
- Unfortunately, most folks only consider organ donation at the time of their driver license renewal. In states where licenses last 8 years (like Tennessee), that’s a long time to go in between such a life-saving decision consideration.
- Signing up in any state puts one on the national register. Please consider signing up on the national website, go to https://donatelife.net.
Left to right: Josh Hensel, Stephanie Langston, Todd Hensel, Carrie Meehan, Laura Schweizer