PARTNERSHIP HELPS ORGAN DONATIONS REGISTERING NOW EASIER.

Byline: CONNIE LLANOS  Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA -- Just a few months ago Saugus resident Russ Cox couldn't have been happier.

He was running a successful heating and air-conditioning business and still in the honeymoon phase of his marriage to the love of his life.

Cox was shocked when three months ago, during a routine checkup, doctors found a tumor on his liver.

It was already an inch and a half in size and while chemotherapy would keep it from getting any larger, Cox would need a liver transplant, and fast.

He is among thousands across the county waiting for new organs.

Every minute 13 people are added to the nation's organ-donor waiting lists. And about 18 people die every day because of a lack of available organs.

On July 2006 a new partnership between the California Department of Motor Vehicles and the Donate Life California Registry made signing up to be an organ donor faster and more effective than ever before.

This also means more kids can decide sooner than ever before whether they want to be organ donors.

``What many kids don't understand is when they see shows like ``Grey's Anatomy'' and ``E.R.'' it is facts mixed with entertainment,'' said Simera Nichols, youth education coordinator for Donate Life.

Nichols has heard all sorts of reasons from kids on why they fear donating their organs.

``They think doctors won't work as hard to save them if they are in the hospital or that their religion won't support it.''

In a film presented Friday to a group of ninth- and 10th-graders at Saugus High School, similar concerns were voiced.

``It sounds interesting to donate your organs but I don't want to be in my casket without all my body parts,'' said 15-year-old Jamie Blair.

``What will they do with my body once they take all my parts, just throw it away?'' one boy asked.

Saugus Principal Bill Bolde was responsible for contacting the Donate Life people. Bolde hoped the presentation would dispel myths about the medical procedure and help his students make educated decisions.

``It is always good for our kids to know how they can help,'' Bolde said.

Bolde, a former driver's education teacher, said he has been telling teens for years about organ donorship through the Department of Motor Vehicles. The DMV places pink dot stickers on drivers' licenses for those who have agreed to be donors should they die.

``That pink dot means a life for someone else,'' he said.

As Cox waits to hear about his liver, he knows donor livers are hard to come by and in high demand.

``With fast food and obesity, many of the donated livers have so much fatty tissue they are not usable,'' Cox said.

But he refuses to feel sorry for himself.

``Everything is going to be fine. I'd rather be a donor than a receiver, but, hey, that's OK.''

connie.llanos(at)dailynews.com

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