One student organization will use a film in order to pique student interest on a life-or-death situation.
Ohio University’s chapter of Students for Organ Donation is spreading awareness about organ donation by showing the film Seven Pounds on Wednesday at 4 p.m. in Baker University Center Theatre.
OUSOD is a nonprofit organization that aims to spread awareness about and clear up the myths of organ donation, said Zach Bourgraf, senior studying communication and OUSOD member.
Seven Pounds lasts about 120 minutes and follows the life of Tim Thomas, a man who sets out to help seven people by donating organs after he causes a deadly car accident.
The organization holds two to three events per semester — such as movies and barbeques — where the group provides information about organ donation and allows students to enroll in the registry, said Bourgraf.
“We want to include everyone who has been touched by organ donation and would really like to find someone who is a recipient,” said Pamela Brown, faculty advisor of OUSOD. “It could be so much more meaningful if a member could talk personally.”
Brown personally did not receive a donation, but her daughter received a liver transplant in a critical situation at the age of nine.
One donor has the potential to save eight lives and cure 50 through tissue donation, both Brown and Bourgraf mentioned.
“Some geographical regions may be uneducated or against organ donation because of religion,” Brown said. “But really, no religion is against it. People are apprehensive without knowing facts behind it and knowing the impact it can have.”
The need for organ donors is much greater than the number of people who actually donate, according to Lifeline of Ohio’s website, an organization with which OUSOD volunteers and participates in activities.
Only about 3,000 people ages 18 to 34 donated organs, while more than 120,000 people were on the transplant waiting list in 2012, according to the United States Department of Health and Human Services website.
OUSOD strives to register organ donors to increase the overall number of potential donors, living and deceased. Living student donors can provide kidneys or a piece of liver because the liver can regenerate itself, said Brown.
“Some people think that those who need transplants are ill or elderly, but that’s not always the case,” said Brown. “Anyone can be a donor. If your organs are viable, why not choose to benefit someone else if they can no longer benefit you?”
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This article appeared in print under the headline "Students donate time to helping others."
