[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 66 (Monday, April 6, 2020)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 19365-19366]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-07305]
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 66 / Monday, April 6, 2020 /
Presidential Documents
[[Page 19365]]
Proclamation 10003 of March 31, 2020
National Donate Life Month, 2020
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
During National Donate Life Month, we honor the
selfless individuals whose remarkable generosity has
helped give others the gift of life. Countless
Americans have benefited from people who have
registered as organ, eye, or tissue donors, and we
recognize our Nation's unrivaled medical community for
helping make donor transplants possible. Through the
talents of doctors all across our country and the gifts
of donors, the quality of life for thousands of
Americans has been improved.
Approximately 60 percent of American adults have
registered as organ, eye, and tissue donors. In 2019,
almost 40,000 American patients received transplants,
which resulted in the most lives saved through organ
donations ever during a single year. We all have the
power to help: One donor can save up to 8 lives through
organ donation and help improve more than 75 other
lives through eye and tissue donation.
Today, more than 110,000 men, women, and children in
the United States are awaiting lifesaving organ
transplants. While tremendous progress has been made,
the need for additional organ donors is vital. Every 9
minutes another name is added to the long list of
Americans desperately waiting for transplants.
Additionally, nearly 18,000 people in the United States
have been diagnosed with illnesses for which blood stem
cell transplantation is the best treatment option. Over
65 percent of these individuals do not have
appropriately matched family members and rely upon
blood stem cell donors from outside their family to
help save their lives. We are grateful for the more
than 30 million adults who are currently registered as
marrow donors. But more are needed to ensure all who
need a transplant can find a match.
To help increase access to transplants, in July 2019, I
signed an Executive Order on Advancing American Kidney
Health. The Executive Order increases access to kidney
transplants by modernizing the organ recovery and
transplantation systems and updating and fixing
outdated and counterproductive regulations. It also
provides increased support for living donors,
increasing the supply of transplantable kidneys by
removing financial barriers to living donations.
Every person is a potential organ or tissue donor with
the power to give the gift of life. This month, we are
grateful to the generous Americans who register as
donors and to the researchers, scientists, and medical
professionals who ensure transplants are safe and
successful. I strongly encourage all willing and able
Americans to sign up as organ or tissue donors to help
instill greater hope in those awaiting a donor match
and improve and save the lives of their fellow
citizens.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the
United States of America, by virtue of the authority
vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the
United States, do hereby proclaim April 2020 as
National Donate Life Month. I call upon health
professionals, volunteers, educators, government
agencies, faith-based and community groups, and private
organizations to help raise awareness of the urgent
need for organ and tissue donors throughout our Nation.
[[Page 19366]]
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
thirty-first day of March, in the year of our Lord two
thousand twenty, and of the Independence of the United
States of America the two hundred and forty-fourth.
(Presidential Sig.)
[FR Doc. 2020-07305
Filed 4-3-20; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3295-F0-P