Get Game - Give Life(TM) Informs College Students About The Urgent Need For Organ Donation

NCAA College Basketball Half-Time Presentations Seek To Increase Organ Donation Among Young Adults

March 6, 2004

PHILADELPHIA /PRNewswire/ -- GET GAME - GIVE LIFE(TM), a unique program to educate college students and others about the need for organ donations, continued its 2003-2004 season with a half-time program at the Temple vs. Xavier men's basketball game in Philadelphia. GET GAME - GIVE LIFE will be at 10 leading colleges and universities this winter during special NCAA men's college basketball half-time presentations.

The GET GAME - GIVE LIFE half-time events feature numerous celebrities and prominent personalities. On-hand at the Temple game was the "Voice of the 76ers," Tom McGuinness, director of radio broadcasting, Philadelphia 76ers. In addition, Gail Berman, M.D., director, heart transplantation, and Howard Eisen, M.D., director, advanced heart failure, both of Temple University Hospital, participated in the event to provide first-hand perspective on the importance of organ and tissue donation and the impact one can make by becoming a donor.

"The growing success of organ transplant surgery and treatment has saved the lives of many people, but there just are not enough organs available to meet the need," said McGuinness. "That is why it is so important to have programs such as GET GAME - GIVE LIFE, which encourage the public to consider becoming organ donors. Anyone, regardless of age or medical history, can be a potential donor."

The facts clearly illustrate the urgent need for more organ donors:

• More than 80,000 people are on the organ transplant waiting list.
• An average of 106 people are added to the organ transplant waiting list each day - one person every 14 minutes.
• More than 2,200 of those who are on the organ transplant waiting list are children under the age of 18.
• Every day, 17 people die for want of an organ transplant.

About GET GAME - GIVE LIFE

GET GAME - GIVE LIFE urges college students to "get in the game," by educating them about the increasingly important need for organ donors, stimulating interest among students and distributing organ donor cards to the audience during NCAA men's basketball games. During last winter's college basketball season, GET GAME - GIVE LIFE half-time presentations were conducted at the University of Maryland, Temple University and Georgetown University. More than 10,000 organ donor cards were distributed to the audiences during these games.

GET GAME - GIVE LIFE is supported by Roche, a company committed to organ donation education and improving transplantation outcomes through scientific excellence and innovative research approaches.

Source: GET GAME - GIVE LIFE.

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Copyright © 2004 PR Newswire.

This article posted March 16, 2004.