Photo by flickr user acaben. Creative Commons.
At the passing of Apple CEO Steve Jobs, people across the world are thinking about the gadgets and technology he created that changed our lives forever.
You know what else changes lives forever? Organ donation.
In March 2009, Steve Jobs received a liver transplant. He was lucky. First, because out of the 3,400 Californians waiting for a liver in 2009, he was one of the 671 who got one and not one of the 400 who died.
And second, because he was wealthy. He was able to travel and afford resources to increase his chances of finding a liver and recovering.
It deeply bothered Jobs that not everyone needing an organ had the same opportunities. So he talked to important people like Maria Shriver and Arnold Schwarzenegger to help pass a law.
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into law a bill that will make California the first state in the nation to create a live donor registry for kidney transplants.
The bill also requires California drivers to decide whether they want to be organ donors when they renew their drivers’ licenses. According to one notable supporter, this second measure alone should double the number of organ transplants available in California. –Business Insider
Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU Slate Magazine for writing this story on how you can help the next Steve Jobs by becoming an organ donor. Because it is EXACTLY what I was thinking this morning when I heard that Jobs had died.
Who knows what genius can be preserved thanks to your selfless gift? The next Jobs could be one the 112,356 Americans currently waiting.
Floridians can register as an organ and tissue donor at donatelifeflorida.org. Check organdonor.gov to find out how to register in your state.
Side note: Coincidentally, in Mass on Sunday, the deacon used Steve Jobs as an example for the pro-life movement. Jobs’s young, unwed mother considered an abortion but decided to put her son up for adoption instead.
Great post, Bridget! I was thinking about you the other day as I watched a short documentary on my friend from middle & high school who died in 9th grade when he couldn’t get an organ. (though he had gotten one a few months before). Here’s the link if you’re interested in watching: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18cOSkb5OO4&feature=results_main&playnext=1&list=PL35B8322922298FDB (it’s in 2 parts)
Miss you!
Oh my gosh, Kendall! We show a video about William in Get Carded every year. I had no idea that you knew him!
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