February 14 is also National Donor Day, dedicated to organ donors and their families.

PITTSBURGH – National Donor Day — celebrated on Valentine’s Day each year — is a day focused on increasing awareness about organ donation, and the lives that can be saved through donation and transplantation.

The Center for Organ Recovery & Education (CORE) encourages everyone to observe this day by becoming a registered donor and sharing with others the impact that donors can make on the lives of others. More than 100,000 people are currently waiting for a life-saving organ transplant in the United States, including 6,500 Pennsylvanians and 500 West Virginians.

Chad Ravotti was once among those holding out hope for a second chance at life. In October 2018, he was a 46-year-old husband and father of three, working fulltime, and in desperate need of a life-saving kidney/pancreas transplant. Eli Bussotti became the hero Ravotti needed. When Eli, a 17-year-old high school senior, tragically died in a car crash on his way home from school, he became an organ donor. Little did Eli’s mom, Joy Krumenacker, know at the time, but among the lives that Eli saved that day was that of a man who lived only a few miles from her own family. Today, the two share a close bond and find comfort and healing in remembering Eli together.

In celebration of National Donor Day, and of Eli and heroic donors like him, Ravotti and Krumenacker are asking Pennsylvanians to register as organ donors.

Unfortunately, only 50% of people in PA are registered organ donors. Every 10 minutes, someone is told they need a life-saving transplant. With more than 100,000 people across the U.S. waiting for a transplant nearly 20 will die each day, making the need for more registered organ and tissue donors a public health crisis.

National Donor Day is a great opportunity to educate and unite Pennsylvanians around the solution. Contrary to popular misconceptions, anyone can register as an organ and tissue donor regardless of age or health.

To learn more or to and tissue donation get involved in organ visit www.core.org.