Tennessee Donor Services Saves 1,129 Lives from a Record-breaking 445 Donors in 2022

NASHVILLE, TENN. — February 15, 2023: Tennessee Donor Services (TDS) announces a record-breaking year for organ and tissue donation in Tennessee.

Organ procurement organizations, including Tennessee Donor Services, are responsible for orchestrating the entire organ and tissue donation process from registering donors to approaching donor families, coordinating recoveries and ensuring organs are safely transported to transplant hospitals.

In 2022, TDS saved and improved thousands of lives. Over the course of the year,

• A record-breaking 445 donor heroes gave life-saving gifts that resulted in 1,129 organ transplants.
• 37,917 tissue grafts were recovered from 2,346 tissue donors.
• The #BeTheGift Challenged surpassed its goal, and 115,000+ Tennesseans registered to be organ, eye and tissue donors.
• A new partnership with Meharry Medical College formed to spur more medical students into donation careers.

“We remain dedicated to our donors, their wonderful families and those whose lives are saved through life changing gifts.” says Jill Grandas, Executive Director of Tennessee Donor Services. “We are so grateful to Tennesseans who registered as donors in 2022. Our work is possible because of donor heroes, who choose to #BeTheGift and save lives. [1] 

Last year marked the second consecutive year of TDS’ #BeTheGift Challenge, which encourages Tennessee residents to register as organ and tissue donors. In January, TDS kicked off the third annual #BeTheGift Challenge with the goal of registering an additional 125,000 donors in 2023.

Additionally, TDS and Meharry Medical College launched an unprecedented partnership to diversify the organ donation and transplantation workforce and increase the number of Black registered donors. Increased donor diversity leads to better matches and more successful transplants for waiting patients.

Nationally, 2022 was a record-breaking year for donation and transplantation. In September, the United States celebrated 1 million organ transplants since the first successful kidney transplant in 1954. Over half of these transplants have occurred since 2000. The United States was the first nation in the world to reach this milestone.  

More than 100,000 Americans are awaiting a life-saving organ transplant, despite an average of 110 people receiving one each day in the U.S. TDS works tirelessly to save lives and ensure that the more than 3,000 Tennesseans on the transplant waitlist receive the organs they need to survive. Each of us can make a difference by registering to #BeTheGift as an organ and tissue donor at BeTheGiftToday.com.