    [Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 30, Number 16 (Monday, April 25, 1994)]
    [Pages 821-822]
    [Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    <R04>
    Proclamation 6672--Nancy Moore Thurmond National Organ and Tissue Donor
    Awareness Week, 1994

    April 15, 1994

    By the President of the United States

    of America

    A Proclamation

        Perhaps the most precious legacy that one human being can bestow
    upon another is the gift of life. The unselfish decision to donate one's
    organs after death is an act of generosity that can mean the beginning
    of new life for others. Advanced medical knowledge and techniques have
    allowed bone marrow transplants to bring hope and healing to children
    with leukemia; the gift of a new heart, lung, or liver has enabled many
    terminally ill Americans who would otherwise have died, to live longer,
    fuller lives. A new kidney has provided improved health, and the
    donation of a cornea has restored the miracle of sight. Unfortunately,
    however, many people still wait, and many people still die waiting for a
    suitable organ to become available.
        Today there are more than 34,000 patients on the national transplant
    waiting list, and a new patient is added to the list every 20 minutes.
    The gap between the number of patients on the waiting list and the
    number of donors continues to widen, and many more will needlessly die.
    The United States has the potential to maintain an adequate supply of
    donor organs. To fulfill that potential we must increase public
    awareness of the urgent need for donation. All Americans need to know
    that by completing a donor card and carrying it, and by discussing with
    their families their wishes to donate, they may give the blessing of
    life to other Americans in need of organs for transplantation.
        One year ago, on April 14, 1993, a tragic auto accident claimed the
    life of Nancy Moore Thurmond, the beautiful, gifted, and caring young
    daughter of Senator Strom Thurmond and his wife, Nancy. Their courageous
    decision to donate her organs so that others might live was in
    accordance with Nancy's wishes and, even in death, has enabled the
    promise of her young life to continue. The Thurmond family, along with
    others who have made the same magnanimous gesture for their loved ones,
    can find some measure of comfort in knowing that they have, indeed,
    bequeathed the gift of life.
        The Congress, by Public Law 103-30, has designated the week
    beginning April 17, 1994, as ``Nancy Moore Thurmond National Organ and
    Tissue Donor Awareness Week'' and has authorized and requested the
    President to issue a proclamation calling upon the people of the United
    States to observe this week with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and
    activities.
        Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United
    States of America, do hereby proclaim the week of April 17 through April
    23, 1994, as Nancy Moore Thurmond National Organ and Tissue Donor
    Awareness Week. I urge all health care professionals, educators, the
    media, public and private organizations concerned with organ donation
    and transplantation, and all Americans to join me in promoting greater
    and more widespread awareness and acceptance of this humanitarian cause.
        In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this fifteenth day
    of April, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-four, and
    of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and
    eighteenth.
                                                William J. Clinton

    [Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 2:06 p.m., April 15,
    1994]

    Note: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on April
    19. This item was not received in time for publication in the
    appropriate issue.

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