The Biomedical Laboratory Diagnostics Student Association, or” BLDSA”:http://bld.msu.edu/Students/BLDSA.html, at MSU has once again kicked off the Gift of Life race, competing against several other universities in Michigan.
The Gift of Life competition, which began on January 17, goes for six weeks. Its goal is to register as many people as possible to become organ donors.
“When you become an organ donor, you have the potential to save up to eight lives,” said Jenna Carter, Gift of Life coordinator at the student association.
Carter, a biomedical laboratory diagnostics sophomore, said she hopes to educate her peers about organ donation because it’s a topic that is surrounded by misconceptions.
She said people usually decide to donate their organs under the circumstance that they pass away.
The competition, which started between MSU and U-M in 2004, has expanded over the past decade among other in-state universities, with 13 participating so far this year, said Jennifer Tislerics, Gift of Life special events and partnerships coordinator.
Several volunteers in coordination with the BLDSA have been encouraging students around campus, educating them on organ donation and signing them up as well.
In 2013, MSU had between 1,100-1,200 new donors sign up through the competition alone, and has been known to meet similar numbers in the past, Carter said.
She said she hopes MSU beats Wayne State University to make up for their loss to it in the past few years.
Although it has been difficult to get people to sign up for organ donation in the past decade, Michigan has started to witness a spike in the past three years, Tislerics said.
“Most people want to donate…but they don’t necessarily take the time to take that action step and actually sign up as donors,” Tislerics said.
Clerks at the Michigan Secretary of State offices have been asking in the past three years whether people would like to sign up right then and there for the organ donor registry, Tislerics said, adding that just asking has made a huge difference.
Students like landscape architecture senior Kim Dietzel think that organ donation is important because it gives a second chance at life.
“My dad got a heart,” Dietzel said of a sudden emergency that happened when she was 12.
She said she had wanted to become a donor even before this medical emergency happened.
3,200 individuals in Michigan and 120,000 nationwide are waiting for organ transplants, according to the Gift of Life Michigan and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services websites.
“There is something incredibly rewarding in finding some good in a tragedy,” Tislerics said.
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