From Dr Darling, 3 x liver transplant patient and President and CEO of the FAIR Foundation

Nancy, as President & CEO of the FAIR Foundation I write on behalf of our 27-member Board of Directors consisting of transplant surgeons, medical directors, et al THE FAIR FOUNDATION in thanking you for bringing to your Blog readers our efforts for equitable bio-medical research funding by our government for all diseases without favoritism for HIV/AIDS and for new organ-donor policies to reverse America’s organ donor crisis.

Indeed, today there are 99,467 patients like you on the UNOS waiting list today. Every hour one of them dies, and/or one who was on the list but was removed due to becoming too sick to be transplanted dies—that’s America’s organ-donor crisis resulting from our government’s reliance on the sole organ-donor policy of “altruism.” From Jan to May of this year there were only 11,517 transplants and 5,805 donors. The math is quite simple. With almost 100,000 waiting it is strikingly obvious that altruism is failing miserably to meet the demand for organs.

If one was a physician in charge of an emergency room after a catastrophic event and one patient was dying every hour with 100,000 waiting to get in the door would the physician say, “We don’t need new policies, our efforts are working well”? Of course not, he’d be fired, yet that is the attitude of those presently in charge of our organ donor system and the time for new organ-donor policies has passed long ago—pun intended.

Thank you also for your kind words regarding my book, Coma Life, which has now helped thousands of patients in need of transplant. Yes, all revenue from book sales does go to the FAIR Foundation and specifically to FAIR’s effort to have new organ-donor policies instituted to reverse this organ-donor crisis. If the policies we are recommending, and which are supported by many eminent physicians and organ-donor advocates, are adopted nationwide, we believe the 75,000 waiting for a new kidney and another 500,000 on kidney dialysis but NOT even on the list yet would have their new kidney within five years-easily. In addition, those waiting for other organs would have their time on the waiting list shortened dramatically. You viewers can see those in favor of these policies and advocate for the policies easily using their zip code and by copying a prepared letter at the fair foundation web site available here

I would like all your readers to know that the FAIR Foundation is a tax-exempt organization that has no paid employees—we are all volunteers and we now have thousands of members and supporters in all fifty states and DC.

Finally I’d like to thank you for coming to our FAIR Foundation Liver Disease & Transplant Support Group meeting recently. Sharing your extensive knowledge of liver disease and transplant was a real benefit to our group members and you also are of great assistance to the patients in the Loma Linda University Medical Center’s support group where you regularly input valuable information. Add on to those laudable efforts your yahoo group for transplant patients and this excellent Blog that helps patients world-wide and one can only marvel at how one in need of a new liver like you can be so productive.

I look forward to visiting with you at our next support group meeting and …in the ICU after you get your new liver.

God Bless,

Dr. Richard Darling, DDS