Record-breaking year for organ donors at JMCGH, Mayor presents proclamation

JACKSON, Tenn. — 2024 was a record-breaking year for one nonprofit healthcare organization.

Tennessee Donor Services served nearly 500 organ donors whose gifts resulted in more than 1,300 lifesaving organ transplants across the state.

Tennessee Donor Services, in partnership with the Jackson-Madison County General Hospital, served 34 organ donors in the Jackson-Madison County area last year — the largest number of organ donors served at the hospital in a calendar year.

These donors, who after death, gave the gift of life to waiting patients.

Bill Forsythe is a recipient who received his transplants eight and a half years ago. He was one day away from doctors telling him he would be taken off the list.

“The next morning, they called and they had a organ for me; two organs for me, and they were a perfect match,” said Bill Forsythe, transplant recipient.

His complications started 10 months before that when he went to the hospital for minor hernia surgery, and while in the recovery room had a heart attack.

He eventually got on a transplant list and four months later he received the call that his organs were ready.

“That organ donor was 32 years old. It came to be she passed away in Sevierville, she was from Selmer, Tennessee. So, you never know who your organ might come from. You never know who might provide it. It’s all in God’s hands,” said Forsythe.

April is National Donate Life Month. Mayor Scott Conger presented a proclamation commemorating the celebration Thursday at city hall.

The city, and Tennessee Donor Services, encourages all who can to register to be an organ, eye and tissue donor.

To register as an organ donor in Tennessee, visit the Tennessee donor registry at donatelifetn.org or simply check ‘yes’ when applying for or renewing your driver’s license or state ID. If you see a red heart on your driver license or state ID, it signifies you as being an organ donor.

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