CRAWFORD, Texas, April 8 (UPI) -- President George Bush urged Americans Thursday to donate their organs and tissues to help others live and declared April National Donate Life Month.
More than 25,000 people received organ transplants last year, he said from his Texas ranch, but another 6,000 died while awaiting a transplant. Another 64,000 are on waiting lists and 30,000 people will be diagnosed with illnesses that could be cured with bone marrow transplants.
"I call upon our citizens to sign an organ and tissue donor card and to be screened for bone marrow donation," he said in a proclamation. I also urge health care professionals, volunteers, educators, government agencies and private organizations to help raise awareness of the important need for organ and tissue donors."
Bush said he has included nearly $25 million in funding in his 2005 budget proposal for procurement and transplant efforts at the Department of Health and Human Services and nearly $23 million to support a bone marrow donation registry.
April marks the 50th anniversary of the first successful organ transplant in the United States.
