Photos by: Fatima Janneh
Saturday, April 21 at 8 p.m. in the Brinser Lecture Room of the Steinman Center, the newly formed Elizabethtown College chapter of Donate Life held an inaugural Donate Life Awareness Night.
According to its website, Donate Life is a nonprofit organization which aims to “increase the number of donated organs, eyes and tissue available to save and heal lives through transplantation while developing a culture where donation is embraced as a fundamental human responsibility.”
Donate Life has chapters at colleges and universities across the country.
Junior and president of the club Kyle Lumbert formed the Donate Life Etown club this year along with several friends due to the way that their lives were impacted by organ donation.
Organ donation is a personal issue for Lumbert, whose mother was diagnosed with congestive heart failure and cardiomyopathy, which attacked her heart and lungs when Lumbert was six years old.
Originally, she was able to live normally with a pacemaker, but in 2014 she was added to the heart transplant list.
Fortunately, after only a few months, the doctors found a heart for her which was able to save her life.
Junior, vice president of Donate Life Etown and Campus Life Editor of the Etownian Megan Kane was even more closely impacted by organ donation and transplants, because it was a liver transplant that saved her life.
As a baby, Kane received a liver transplant from a 16-year-old girl who died in a motor accident.
Kane, while admitting it might be unrealistic, said that her wish was that someday there would be a surplus of willing donors rather than a deficit.
Approximately 92 organ transplants occur every day, but in the same day about 20 people die while waiting for an organ transplant.
During the 2017-2018 year, Donate Life Etown club members walked in the Homecoming parade, attended a Gift of Life Leadership Summit in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and ran a drive to support the Gift of Life Family House in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The event included live music by the local band One Too Many, a band of high school students, many of whom intend to pursue music-related careers.
As the name implies, there are many members of the band, and nine members performed at the Donate Life event.
The band played a variety of songs, including James Brown’s “I Feel Good,” The Kinks’ “Sunny Afternoon,” Amy Winehouse’s “Rehab” and some original songs composed by the band.
Throughout the evening, prize baskets were raffled off with themes such as the Pittsburgh Steelers, fitness, date night and sweets.
One member of One Too Many, Corey Houck, shared his appreciation for the band’s opportunity to play at the College, noting that it was largely because fellow band member, Tyler Coder, is brother to junior and secretary of Donate Life Etown Becca Coder.
Houck is a registered organ donor and had some familiarity with the issue.
“I know a lot of people aren’t [registered] though, and it’s not good,” he said.
Beth Coder, mother of Tyler and Becca, is an organ donor and knew of the importance of organ donation even before her daughter’s involvement with Donate Life.
“It’s amazing to hear about all the stories of transplant recipients,” Beth Coder said.
Even having previous knowledge of the issue, she was surprised by some of the statistics.
Beth Coder was especially surprised by the fact that another person is added to the nation’s organ transplant waiting list every 10 minutes.
With nearly 115,000 people in the United States currently awaiting an organ transplant and this number increasing every ten minutes, students at Etown are encouraged to get involved.
Students can register to become an organ donor at the local DMV, or within a few minutes, students can register online by going to donatelife.net and selecting “Register.”
