Farmingville, NY - At the April 12 Town Board Meeting, Councilwoman Jane Bonner sponsored a resolution declaring April as Living Organ Donor Month in the Town of Brookhaven which was unanimously adopted. During the meeting, Stony Brook University Hospital Transplant Team Administrative Director Dawn Francisquini (second from left) and Living Donor Coordinator Stephen Knapik (second from right) shared a presentation about the need for live organ donors. In 2016, Councilwoman Bonner donated one of her kidneys to Tom D’Antonio, her friend of more than 40 years. Every 18 hours a New Yorker dies waiting for an organ transplant, and although 83% of New Yorkers support organ donation, only 27% are enrolled on the New York State Registry; this is well below the national average of 50%. Also pictured is Brookhaven Town Chief of Staff Emily Pines, an organ donor herself.
Councilwoman Bonner said, “As an organ donor myself, I saw first-hand what a wonderful gift it is to help save someone’s life. In New York alone, more than 10,000 people are waiting for an organ transplant and I urge everyone to make a difference in someone’s life and enroll as an organ donor now.”
For information about organ, eye and tissue donation, and to enroll online in the New York State Organ and Tissue Donor Registry, visit Donate Life New York.