About Donation

Organ and Tissue Donation

“I cried the first time I took a breath without oxygen. My donor gave me the greatest gift you can give to a human being."

Darryl Price, Double-Lung Transplant Recipient

One organ donor can save eight lives and enhance the lives of up to 75 with the donation of corneas and tissue.

Unfortunately, there is a drastic shortage of organ donors in this country and the demand far exceeds the supply. 100,000 men, women and children await life-saving organ transplants and 17 people die each day while waiting. You have the power to help change that by registering today as an organ and tissue donor.

Organs that can be donated

Kidneys (2)

Heart

Lungs (2)

Liver

Pancreas

Intestines

Tissue that can be donated

Bone

Corneas

Skin

Tendons

Valves

Veins

How organ and tissue donation works

The process is time-sensitive and complex, with various partners helping along the way to ensure every opportunity to save lives.

The key steps include:

Decision to Donate

Organ and tissue donation begins with an individual (or their Next-of-Kin) making the decision to be a life-saving donor. People in New Jersey can register as a donor online or when they receive or renew their Driver License. If a patient who is a potential donor is not registered, his or her family will have to make that decision at an already difficult time.

Identifying a Potential Donor

As an Organ Procurement Organization (OPO), NJ Sharing Network works closely with the hospitals in our service area and by law, hospitals must contact us when a patient is a potential donor. Our expert staff will evaluate the patient to see if they meet required criteria to donate, and will also confirm if the patient is a registered donor.

Authorizing for Donation

If the patient is a candidate for donation and has not registered their decision, NJ Sharing Network must obtain consent for organ and tissue donation, along with the patient's social and medical history, from the Next-of-Kin.

Matching Organs to Potential Recipients

Information including the potential donor's blood type, size and weight is sent to the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS). UNOS maintains and oversees the national waiting list for patients awaiting a transplant. The UNOS computer system then matches the best potential recipients for those organs and shares that information with NJ Sharing Network.

Recovery and Transplant

Working with the patient's hospital and the recipient's transplant center, NJ Sharing Network oversees the recovery and placement of organs so that the miracle of transplantation can take place.

Recovered tissue is shared with our partners who prepare them as grafts for transplant. If the tissue cannot be used for transplant, certain tissues may still be donated for research.

The procedure takes place with the utmost care and respect and after a moment of silence in honor of the donor.

Say YES and register today as an organ and tissue donor.

Living Donation

Living donation is made possible by selfless individuals who offer an organ or part of an organ to someone in need of a transplant. It is an opportunity to save a life while you are still alive.

While NJ Sharing Network does not facilitate living donation, we are supportive of the living donation process and committed to building a community to raise awareness about the life-saving gift of transplantation.

Interested in becoming a living donor?

Today, there are more than 6,000 living organ donations per year. Organs that can be donated by a living donor include kidney and a portion of the liver. The most common type of living donation is kidney donation.

To schedule an evaluation, contact one of the following renal transplant centers located in New Jersey:

Hackensack University Medical Center

Virtua Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital

Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital

Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center

Our Foundation’s Living Donor Council can also provide resources and mentorship throughout your living donation journey. For more information email contactus@sharingnetworkfoundation.org.

"My recipient is the father of triplets. I thought every kid needs their dad. Saving a life really does change more than one person's life."

Briana Edler-Strand
Living Kidney Donor

The National Kidney Donation Organization (NKDO) is an organization of Living Donors who help mentor those looking to donate a kidney as well as helping those who are in need of a kidney transplant. NKDO provides education and information to prospective living kidney donors. If you are interested in learning more about living kidney donation, please visit their website at www.nkdo.org.

What is Paired Donation or Paired Exchange?

For patients who have a willing living donor that is not compatible to them, there is an option for Paired Exchange, in which two candidates “trade” donors so that each candidate receives a kidney from a donor with a compatible blood type. For further details, learn more at National Kidney Registry (NKR), the Alliance for Paired Donation (APD) and the UNOS Kidney Paired Donation Program (KPD).