Organ Donor’s Mother Urges Others To Do The Same

Part of the effort to raise awareness; 17 people die every day while waiting for an organ.

We often hear about the need for human organ donations, but we can sometimes get immune to the message.

Every day across the country, seventeen people die while waiting for an organ.

That is why a very special flag was raised Wednesday outside Duluth’s Essentia Health-St. Mary’s Medical Center.

The flag read “Donate Life,” as part of national Donate Life month.

The flag serves as a reminder, and honors past, present and future donors.

Gloria Mattakat’s son Tom died in a snowmobile accident 30 years ago–on Thanksgiving Day.

“Our son Tom, he gave the gift of life to eight people. And his heart recipient had less than a week to live, and she lived fourteen more years,” Gloria said.

“So, never ever has our family questioned if the right decision had been made, because we’ve had proof so many times.”

Gloria said her son had chosen to be a donor just a couple weeks earlier, and it made the family decision easier.

The Health Resources and Services Administration says there are over 100,000 people on the national transplant list, and another person is added to the list every eight minutes.

Ashley Dalbec, a Registered Nurse with Essentia, attended the flag-raising ceremony. She said it’s important to honor donors and to try to make potential donors aware.

“It’s really important because every year there are more and more people added to the wait list nationwide. And we just want everyone to be aware of the really wonderful thing that organ donation is, and it brings something good out of something that can be really horrible for a lot of people,” said Dalbec.

If you are interested in donating, you can go online to an easy-to-remember website: registerme.org.

You can also check the donation box when getting a license for driving, hunting or fishing.