Articles from prior issues of The Advocate

March/April 2000

ASTS First Family Pledge Campaign

OVER THE PAST QUARTER CENTURY, members of the American Society of Transplant Surgeons (ASTS) have taken organ transplantation from a pioneering surgical procedure to a highly successful operation that has given tens of thousands of Americans a new chance at life. The challenge today regarding organ transplant is that, while the number of people waiting to benefit from a transplant is growing rapidly, organ donation is not increasing. While 55 people a day receive organ transplants, another 12 people on waiting lists tragically die because organs aren’t available. The First Family Pledge Campaign pioneered by ASTS addresses, head-on, the need to significantly increase organ donation. The concept of the campaign is to motivate families, not just individuals, to pledge to each other to be organ and tissue donors in the event of death. Unless members of a family talk to one another about their desire to become organ donors, that important wish can wind up unfulfilled. Honorary cochairs of the First Family Pledge Campaign are Maggie and Reg Green, whose inspiring decision to donate their son Nicholas’ organs following his 1994 murder during a robbery in Italy was the subject of the CBS movie “Nicholas’ Gift.” The mission of the campaign is simple: ASTS hopes that America’s families--led by the First Families of America--our national leaders, members of Congress, Governors, and Mayors as well as sports, entertainment, and community leaders--will take the First Family Pledge and join the Green Family in this important effort. Ultimately, ASTS hopes that the roster of names, posted on the World Wide Web at the www.familypledge.org and updated daily, will contain the names of leaders and millions of families from across the nation who have taken the “family pledge.” Those who have signed the First Family Pledge include a majority of the members of the U.S. Congress. Other highlights of the First Family Pledge campaign include the First Family Pledge Congress. Over 200 children, all of whom have received organ and tissue transplants, served as delegates to that Congress. They represented every state in the nation. First Family Pledge also partnered with Laytonsville, Maryland, which is now the first community in America in which a majority of its citizens have pledged to become organ and tissue donors. In addition, popular sports broadcaster John Madden taped a series of holiday messages, which were shown during NFL and Bowl Games during the 1999 holiday season. In the messages, Madden encouraged families across the country to join him in taking the First Family Pledge. To electronically sign the First Family Pledge please go to our website at www.familypledge.org. For more information regarding the First Family Pledge Campaign and/or to receive a Pledge Certificate by mail, please call 1.800.848.8836.