A new flag is flying above the North Hempstead Town Hall with the words “donate life,” serving as a reminder to residents about the lifesaving impacts of organ donation.
April is dedicated to organ donation awareness and the importance of the lifesaving measure.
The flag was raised by Jennifer Lentini, one of the many people whose life was saved due to an organ donor.
In 1996, at just 13 years old, Lentini began showing signs of stomach pain. These issues were initially brushed away as her “becoming a teenager.”
After visiting multiple emergency rooms for her condition, one finally suggested exploratory surgery in her abdomen to figure out what was going on. During surgery, Lentini went into cardiac arrest.
Doctors revived Lentini but told her parents to say goodbye to their daughter who was dying of heart failure and needed a heart transplant.
Fighting for her life, Lentini opted to join the organ transplant list to receive a new heart. After three months and one day she got one.
A 14-year-old boy named Matthew had died and it was his heart that Lentini received.
“If it wasn’t for his mother, I would not be here today,” Lentini said.
In 2015, Lentini said she was able to meet Matthew’s mother, which she called an amazing experience.
“The first thing she did was place her head against my chest and she said, ‘That’s my boy,’ and she got to listen to her son’s heartbeat again,” Lentini said.
While Matthew’s heart saved Lentini’s life, Lentini is again on the heart, and kidney, list to receive another new heart. Lentini has had this heart for nearly 30 years, yet only about 15% of heart transplant recipients live for 20 years with their new heart, according to the National Institute of Health.
Lentini urged others to become organ donors to save the lives of people just like her.
“Please think about donation because you never know who it could happen to,” Lentini said.
According to Dr. Lionel Mailloux, Clinical Professor of Medicine at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, donating one’s organs after death can save up to eight lives.
In New York, about 8,000 people are on the national transplant waiting list and more than 1,000 people have been waiting more than five years for a new organ. More than 105,000 people are on the list across the nation.
About 500 people in New York die every year because they are unable to receive a new organ.
“The statistics put into perspective the dire circumstances of those awaiting organ transplants
here in New York State,” North Hempstead Town Supervisor Jennifer DeSena said. “There is a critical deficiency in available organs for transplants, and people are tragically losing their lives as a result.”
Mailloux stressed the importance of the act due to the great need in the state.
“New York State has historically had one of the longest wait times for an organ,” Mailloux said. “Our goal is to spread this message far and wide so, together, we can make a positive and lasting impact on the lives of patients in need of transplants.”
DeSena called on North Hempstead residents to become organ donors and help out their fellow New Yorkers in need.
“We implore all our North Hempstead neighbors to sign up to become organ donors,” DeSena said. “One organ donor can save up to eight lives. That is a staggering figure, and one that I hope inspires residents across our town, county and state to sign up for organ donation.”
New Yorkers can sign up to become a donor online or when they renew their driver’s license.
