April is National Donate Life Month, a time to recognize how organ donation and transplant medicine save lives. CSL Behring recognized the month with a town hall event at its King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, campus.
The town hall included remarks from John Branton, who shared his experience after receiving a donated liver. For one thing, he became a grandfather.
“A lot of us don’t just get better. I got to go back to that guy I was before I got sick,” he said. “I’ve really had a wonderful life since my transplant.”
Kevin Kovaleski, CSL Behring Vice President of Transplant Medicine said experiences like Branton’s and other patients show “there’s an emotional context of transplant medicine that can’t be underestimated.”
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Employees also learned some facts about organ donation. Here are five, by the numbers:
110,000+ - The number of men, women and children awaiting organ transplants in the U.S.
Every 10 minutes – How often a person is added to the organ transplant waiting list in the U.S.
80 – The percentage of patients on the waiting list in need of a kidney transplant
8 – The number of lives one donor can save
145.5 million – The number of registered organ, eye and tissue donors in the U.S.
Source: Donate Life America
Last summer, a team from CSL Behring including CEO Paul Perreault, met with leaders in transplant medicine at the American Transplant Congress in Seattle. The company is building partnerships in transplant medicine as it pursues potential new treatments, aimed at improving post-transplant outcomes and positively impacting the quality and quantity of organs available for transplant.
What’s it like when a family member needs a transplant? Hear from CSL Behring’s Diane McCabe, whose sister-in-law received a double lung transplant.
