The Gift of Life

All local stories matter. They matter to some portion of readers, and they certainly matter to the journalists sharing them. But there’s always an article that hits home a little more than others.

Bill Sutton, who is the managing editor of The Express News Group, was never comfortable being in the pages of our newspapers. But he agreed, because his story is so important — and can help so many others — because he needs a donor kidney. He’s not alone: There are some 100,000 people in the United States alone who need life-saving organ donations.

It’s testament to modern medicine, and to Bill’s commitment to his readers, that he’s hardly missed any time while going through a series of medical challenges related to kidney disease, which have led him to three-day-a-week dialysis, a temporary measure designed to buy him time while waiting for a donor kidney that can bring him back some semblance of normalcy. But that wait is a difficult one, for him and for everyone who knows him.

At 56, Bill could wait years for a kidney. But there are two paths to success. First is a live donor: If someone got tested and matched, he or she could share one of two kidneys and go on to live a normal life, having provided the same gift to someone else.

There also are organs harvested after death. It’s imperative that more people sign up as organ donors in that situation. Well over half of Americans have done so, but, as the website OrganDonor.gov notes, “Only 3 in 1,000 people die in a way that allows for deceased organ donation.” That’s fewer than 1 percent of all donors with the check mark on a driver’s license. Big improvements in registration bring only marginal increases in the real world.

But that’s why it’s so important. If you are healthy and able, and you realize the remarkable opportunity that live organ donation offers, please get the test. You might be able to help Bill — but, regardless, you almost certainly will help someone by giving them a new lease on life. (The Kidney Transplant Department at Stony Brook University Hospital is a place to start, 631-444-2209.)

And, please, agree to be an end-of-life donor, and make your wishes clear to family. Medical science is working to improve the numbers of organs that can be saved and used in transplants. But they need your help.

As a journalist, Bill Sutton knows you have to tell people your story when you need help, hard as that can be. He’s done his part. Please do yours.