How very lucky we are to live in an era of advanced medicine and longer lives. It is incredible to think of how many people are alive today because of the advances in medical technology and treatments that have been made in the past 50 years.

In one such example, a friend of my family found out nine years ago she had chronic emphysema, which rapidly depleted her already thin lung tissue.

Faced with this, she became dependent on oxygen therapy 24 hours a day and learned her only hope for a longer life was a lung transplant — one of the most complicated and difficult organ transplants to perform. With a beautiful new granddaughter who she wished to see grow up, she signed up on the long list for a lung donation.

For more than two years, she waited and wondered. Finally, a donor was identified whose lung would be compatible with hers, and she was immediately rushed to the operating table.

Today, six years later, she still must take a daily variety of immunosuppressant medications to stop her body from rejecting the donated lung. At any turn, a problem could arise; even a minor illness can have a major effect on the transplant recipient.

However, in this time, she has been able to watch her granddaughter grow up and welcome a grandson to the world. Had it not been for the donor who gave her this gift of life, she wouldn't have seen any of this.

Her story is representative of thousands of stories of lives saved by successful organ donation (and subsequent transplantation). It is widely understood that organ donation can save lives, and all major religions hold the general view that giving of oneself in such a manner is a noble and generous act.

Driver's licenses often have a form on the back where the holder can indicate that they wish for their organs to be donated at the time of their death.

Yet, despite all of these efforts to educate the public about the value of organ donation and to simplify the process, more than 95,000 people are currently waiting for an organ.

Each month, about 300 more names are added to that list, and many of these individuals will die before their "turn" comes. On average, 19 people die each day for lack of a donated organ.

In Michigan alone, more than 3,000 people are currently waiting for organ donations, including more than 2,600 kidneys, 400 livers, 60 hearts and 50 lungs. Each year, thousands and thousands of people die and do not donate their organs and tissues.

Organs that can be donated include the heart, kidneys, pancreas, lungs, liver and intestines. In addition to these organs, tissues such as cornea, skin, heart valves, bone, blood vessels and connective tissue can be donated. These organs and tissues can be used to treat a wide variety of ailments, injuries and diseases.

Anybody can be an organ or tissue donor, and due to considerations of compatibility between the donor and recipient, organ donations from minorities are especially needed.

Quite simply, millions of Americans are able to contribute to this cause, but there still is a great disparity between "supply" and "demand."

There are several bumper sticker slogans that make the point (for example, "Don't take your organs to heaven — heaven knows we need them here!") that one's organs are of much greater use to a living person than to the would-be donor after death.

While views on this issue are often influenced by religious beliefs and cultural values, the bottom line is that an inanimate body does not need a kidney, but more than 70,000 living Americans do. The gift of life is in each of us to give, and advocates of organ donation have made the planning process for such giving easier than ever.

In Michigan, Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land even allows registration for organ donation by entering your name, driver's license (or other identification) number and date of birth in an online form. You then are sent a heart sticker to place on your license and are encouraged to carry a donor card and inform your family of your wish.

To learn more about organ donation, transplantation and how you can act as an advocate for these causes, please visit the following organizations' Web sites: organdonor.gov, Donate Life America (shareyourlife.org), the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (optn.org) and the United Network for Organ Sharing (unos.org).

Ryan Dinkgrave is an MSU public relations graduate student and State News columnist. Reach him at dinkgra2@msu.edu.