Ad Campaign Aims To Dispel Organ Donation Myths
By ABC-7 Reporter/AnchorStephanie Valle
EL PASO, Texas – “If you’re in a car wreck, emergency crews check your Driver’s License to see if you’re a donor, and if you are, then they don’t save your life.”
Everything in that sentence is a myth, said Victoria Armendariz of Southwest Transplant Alliance. Not only has your donor status not been listed on your license for the last decade, but emergency crews will save your life no matter what. And, if you die, you can’t be a donor.
“Organ donation is only an option when someone is declared brain dead,” Armendariz says. “So up to that moment organ donation is not an option.”
Armendariz is contributing to a campaign started by Thomason Health Foundation to dispel myths about organ donation. Two ads promoting transplant surgery – one of those where eight religious leaders from the community, including Catholic Bishop Armando Ochoa, endorse the procedure – have been running on El Paso television airwaves since May.
The campaign is necessary for El Paso teen in particular. Wayne Curtis, 16 has been waiting for a kidney since his body rejected his last donated organ more than a year ago.
Curtis has to be hooked up to a dialysis machine 10 hours a night. “I don’t get to do a lot of things that other teenagers get to do,” Curtis muses.
But the Eastwood High School student figures it’s better to remain positive, instead of focusing on the negative aspects of his life.
“It’s going to happen whether you’re happy or sad,” Curtis said as he plays Madden ’08 on his XBox. “So you might as well be happy.”
What makes Curtis happy is memories of meeting the Dallas Cowboys football team when he was younger, receiving treatment at the children’s hospital in Dallas. Photos and signed footballs are displayed proudly around the teen’s room.
What also keeps him going is thinking forward.
“I want to be a sportscaster because I can’t play sports, but I know a lot about them,” he said.
What would make his aspirations more attainable is a new kidney.
“They really need to think about organ donation because it’s very good,” Curtis says. “It’ll help somebody.”
To become an organ donor in Texas, click here.
To become an organ donor in New Mexico, click here.
