The Bigger Picture

      
Of the current 123,634 people that are waiting for a life-saving organ in the U.S., over 101,906 are waiting for a kidney. (as of 01/09/2015, numbers increase daily)
In Massachusetts, of the 3,155 who are waiting for an organ, 2,148 need a kidney.

• High Blood Pressure, Diabetes and Obesity are the leading causes of kidney disease.  Due to the continuing rise of these conditions, 26 million people in the US have chronic kidney disease, and as many as 73 million Americans are at risk and don't even know it, as symptoms can be very subtle in the beginning.  Often, people with chronic kidney failure don't realize anything is wrong until they are faced with other symptoms and find out their kidney function is less than 25 percent of normal.
  

• Nearly six out of ten Americans will develop kidney disease in their lifetime, according to a new analysis published in the "American Journal of Kidney Disease.  In comparison, the lifetime risk of diabetes, heart attack and invasive cancer is approximately four out of ten. By 2050, one out of three will have diabetes.

• Despite the fact that many people have registered to be an organ donors on their license, the challenge to find more living donors NOW is the best solution we have to end this world wide health epidemic.  Years and years of waiting on the National List for someone to die in order to receive a kidney is not the answer. There is too little awareness about the lack of organs, especially the need for living donors.

• Numbers are sometimes hard to envision in order to get the real feeling.  But visualize this:  If you were to pack in as many people as possible in Fenway Park, Foxborough Stadium and the TD Garden, it would still not come close to the number of people waiting for a transplant! Does that picture make it any easier to capture the enormity of the situation?

         
                       That's the reason we're here to help you!



                   “Even the smallest act of caring for another person is like a drop of water -
                                  it will make ripples throughout the entire pond...”                                                                                                                                                      Jessy and Bryan Matteo