April is National Donate Life Month, a time when nationwide attention focuses on how critically important organ and tissue donation are in saving and healing lives.
During National Donate Life Month, Donate Life Indiana and Indiana Donor Network encourage Hoosiers to register their decision to be a donor, honors deceased and living donors, and celebrates lives saved through donation and transplantation. Local, regional, and national activities are planned throughout the month.
Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb has proclaimed April 1 as Indiana Donate Life Day throughout the state. The mayors of Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, Terre Haute, Evansville, Richmond, Jasper, Frankfort, and Boonville have also proclaimed April 1 as Donate Life Day in their respective communities.
There are several ways Hoosiers can participate in National Donate Life Month:
- Indiana residents can register to become organ and tissue donors while conducting business at their local Bureau of Motor Vehicles branch, online at DonateLifeIndiana.org, when they apply online for a hunting or fishing license, or on their iPhone’s Health app.
- Hoosiers can share the Donate Life message by talking about their decision to become an organ and tissue donor and about how their generosity can help save and heal others.
- Residents can learn more about living donation as another way to help those waiting for a lifechanging transplant.
Hoosiers can also join key celebrations throughout April to support the Donate Life cause:
April 8-14: Blue and Green Spirit Week
The week leading up to National Donate Life Blue & Green Day has themed days focused on appreciation, outreach and education.
April 14: National Donate Life Blue & Green Day
Donate Life Indiana and Indiana Donor Network will join Donate Life Kentucky to light up the Big Four Bridge in Louisville. Donate Life Indiana will also light up the Martin Luther King Bridge in Fort Wayne, River Lights in South Bend, and the AES Indiana building in downtown Indianapolis. Hoosiers are encouraged to show their blue and green colors in support of the Donate Life message and mission.
April 23-29: National Pediatric Transplant Week
The last full week of National Donate Life Month is dedicated to children. National Pediatric Transplant Week focuses on ending the pediatric transplant waiting list.
Currently, there are 1,245 Hoosiers on the national transplant waiting list. Despite age or medical history, anyone can sign up to be a donor online at Donate Life Indiana.