Alonzo Mourning, NBA Star, Reminds Us All How Important it is to Sign Up to be a Donor; Denver's Donor Alliance is Available for Commment.Assignment Desks/Health/Medical Writers DENVER--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 25, 2003 The announcement that Alonzo Mourning Alonzo Harding Mourning, Jr. (born February 8 1970, in Chesapeake, Virginia) is an American professional basketball player currently with the NBA's Miami Heat. He is also known simply as "Zo". Playing at center, he is tall, and weighs 261 lb (0 kg). will be retiring from the NBA NBA abbr. 1. National Basketball Association 2. National Boxing Association NBA (US) n abbr (= National Basketball Association) → Basketball-Dachverband (= due to his need for a kidney transplant kidney transplant or renal transplant Replacement of a diseased or damaged kidney with one from a living relative or a legally dead donor. The former's tissue type is more likely to match, reducing the chance of rejection; but removal puts the donor at risk, is an opportunity to remind everyone to sign up to be an organ and tissue donor. In Colorado, 1,449 people are on the waiting list for a life-saving organ, and 121 of them are African American African American Multiculture A person having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa. See Race. . Of the 121 African Americans on the waiting list, 97 are waiting for a kidney transplant. Donor Alliance, the organ and tissue procurement organization serving Colorado and Wyoming, is available today for comment on current statistics about African Americans and organ donation Organ donation is the removal of the tissues of the human body from a person who has recently died, or from a living donor, for the purpose of transplanting or grafting them into other persons. . "Alonzo Mourning provides us with another example of the need for more people to sign up to be organ and tissue donors. It is important for everyone to understand that in some way we are all touched by organ and tissue donation. Either we know someone who has been a donor or has received a donation, or we know someone who is currently on the waiting list," explained D. Nikki Wheeler, director of communications Director of Communications is a position in the private and public sectors. The Director of Communications is responsible for managing and directing an organization's internal and external communications. and public relations public relations, activities and policies used to create public interest in a person, idea, product, institution, or business establishment. By its nature, public relations is devoted to serving particular interests by presenting them to the public in the most for Donor Alliance. "The best thing we can do is encourage people to get their questions answered, talk to their families and sign up to be organ and tissue donors." Although the recipient and donor do not have to be the same race, they are more likely to be a closer match if they are of the same ethnicity. African Americans make up 3.8 percent of Colorado's population of 4,301,261 people. Since 1988 in Colorado: -- 42 deceased donors, or 3% of deceased donors, have been African American. -- 236 recipients, or 5% of all recipients, have been African American. -- 121 people on the wait list, or 11% of all patients on the wait list, are African American. -- 79% of those African American patients are waiting for kidneys.(a) Anyone interested in learning more about organ donation, or registering to be a donor, should visit www.donoralliance.org or call 303-380-4802 in the Denver area and toll-free statewide at 1-888-256-4386. (a)Statistics are from the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (www.optn.org), and are accurate as of November 25, 2003. |
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