The Kentucky Circuit Court Clerks’ Trust for Life say more than 2 million Kentuckians have signed up as organ donors.
The Trust for Life and its nonprofit partners celebrated Monday, saying the growing donor rolls will result in lifesaving organ, eye, and tissue donations. Mike Lutz received a liver transplant in 2017.
"Two million is a fantastic number because you never believe you'll need it, but when you do you start to wish I could have helped sooner. I wish more people could understand," he told WUKY.
But there are warnings that Kentucky’s new driver’s licenses could hurt efforts to maintain and strengthen the rolls.
Melissa Caldwell, who heads up the Trust for Life, says with the state switching from the four-year license renewal window to eight, "I am concerned. It does worry me, so we're going to have to really beef up our ways of getting the message out."
The state General Assembly did pass a bill this year making it possible for donors to register through the Kentucky Online Gateway, a single sign-on system for accessing various government programs.
Drivers can also donate $1 in support of organ donation awareness when they renew their licenses or by going to donatelifeky.org.
Copyright 2019 WUKY
