New Group Pushes for Organ Donation

Did you check the organ donation box on the back of your driver's license?

If not, Youth for Organ Donation Awareness (YODA)--a small, recently-founded student group--hopes to change your mind.

In an introductory meeting last night in the Adams House Junior Common Room, the founding members of YODA began by relating personal experiences dealing with organ donation.

For example, when the brother of Cristina M. Weiner '02 died, her family donated his whole body--tissues, organs and fluids. So far they have helped over 80 people, leading her to think of organ donation as "a miraculous event that can do a lot of good."

Another of the founders, Sandra L. Nudelman '03, told how her grandfather had successfully received an organ transplant, but only after being on the waiting list for a year and a half. Doctors had given him three months to live.

In a pamphlet distributed at last night's meeting, YODA told attendees that nine people die every day waiting to receive an organ transplant. Right now, there are 67,340 people waiting for transplants. Last year organ donors numbered only 10,073, half of whom were living donors.

One of the ways that YODA plans to address these problems is to provide comprehensive information for the Harvard community on issues associated with organ donation.

It intends to set up a symposium in May with faculty members from the Law, Medical and Divinity Schools, as well as outside experts.

Members also hope to set up a program with local hairdressers to encourage hair donations for patients suffering from leukemia and other terminal diseases.

But perhaps their most immediate goals is to get more Harvard students to sign organ donor cards and to make more people aware of the possibility of donating bone marrow.

To this end, YODA attempted to make its presence felt during last week's American Red Cross blood drive on campus.

However, the group's role was limited because it was still awaiting a delivery of organ donor cards. The group plans to be out in force again at the next drive in November.

While last night's meeting had only nine attendees, the group will split into committees, each concentrating on a different topic area. The committees will write about that area to help compile the group's information base, and try to get experts in the field involved with the planned symposium.