‘Without a donor, I probably wouldn’t be sitting here talking to you right now.’

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) – What looks like two words on a license to most people, means a second chance at life to Tabitha Adkins.

“Without a donor, I probably wouldn’t be sitting here talking to you right now,” said Tabitha Adkins, an organ donor recipient.

After receiving the call that saved her life one year ago, Adkins spends West Virginia Donor Day sharing the importance of organ donations.

“There’s over 500 individuals in the state of West Virginia waiting for that life-changing phone call, and everybody out here can be the potential to be a hero,” Adkins said.

More than 100,000 U.S. residents are on the transplant list and more than 500 of those waiting are West Virginia residents, but only 36% of West Virginians are registered organ donors.

The Center of Organ Recovery and Education (CORE) is a non-profit organization serving Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

Traveling all over the state, CORE talks about organ donation and helps people register to be an organ donor. CORE says their mission is to “save and heal lives through donation.”

Twelve hospitals and eight DMVs in West Virginia have tables with information about organ donation and ways to register as an organ donor setup.

Craig Powers volunteers for CORE because organ donation hits home for him. Twenty-two years ago, he made the decision to donate an organ to his brother.

“In August of 2002, August the 9th I donated him a kidney and he has been doing great since then,” Powers said.

To find more information about organ donation tap here. Anyone can register to be an organ donor there.

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