Saving Lives by Sharing Facebook Status

Sharing your Facebook status could save a life.

That's the hope of the Arkansas Regional Organ Recovery Agency (ARORA), which is inviting Facebook users across the state to get involved.

With news Tuesday that Facebook is urging its members to show their organ donor status, it has become more convenient for those on Facebook to register as organ, tissue and eye donors. Learn how to add your organ donor status on Facebook HERE.

Arkansans can go to the online donor registry (click here) to complete a simple online form to register as a donor. Arkansans already registered through the DMV can also log onto the online registry to add tissue and eye donation.

ARORA says despite widespread support for organ donation, a severe shortage in the number of organs donated exists:

• Currently there are more than 113,000 people waiting for organs in the U.S.
• Every 14 minutes another person is added to the national waiting list for organs.
• One third of the people waiting for organs will die before they receive a transplant.
• Of the 25,000 people who die of a brain death each year (and could donate organs), only 5,500 donate.

Audrey Brown, Director of Public Education at ARORA, hopes this moment strikes a chord with the more than half a billion people who use Facebook every day.

"This new initiative from Facebook is another great opportunity for ARORA to encourage more people to register as donors and to share their decision, which could encourage even more people to register," Brown said.

"At ARORA, we want Arkansans to learn about organ donation, so that those who are waiting can get the organs they so desperately need."

The Arkansas Regional Organ Recovery Agency (ARORA) was established in 1987 as a non-profit, independent organ procurement agency. ARORA is headquartered in Little Rock, and serves 64 counties in the state. ARORA's mission is to make every effort to provide organs and tissues for life-saving and life-enhancing transplantation.