"To remove the cancer, they had to remove over half of my pelvis and replace it with a donor bone. It's kind of difficult when you learn that you're going to live because somebody else has died. I am here because somebody else cared so much to give me the gift of life"
- Steve Barrus
Tissue donation can save or enhance over 50 lives.
Bone and tissue grafts offer recipients the chance for greater mobility, relief from constant pain, improved healing, and the return to a normal quality of life. Each year, new discoveries are being made on how to transplant many types of tissues. The donation of bone allows for grafts that can renew a cancer patient's lost bone and help prevent amputation. Replacing a failed heart valve can be life saving. Transplanting ligaments and tendons that repair injured knees and ankles give patients back their mobility.