The Wendy Marx Foundation for Organ Donor
Awareness was established in 1990 with a single purpose: to increase public awareness of
the desperate need for organ donations.
Each day, 12 or 13 people in the United States die waiting for a transplant. At the start
of the year 2000, more than 66,000 people were on the national waiting list for a
transplant of some kind.
The background of the Wendy Marx Foundation begins with the story of Wendy Marx, a
32-year-old native of Rye Brook, New York, and graduate of Duke University, now residing
in San Francisco.
In 1989, a severe case of Hepatitis B destroyed Wendy's liver. Her life was saved by a
liver transplant. But it was almost too late. With Wendy in a coma and the clock
ticking, doctors had an extremely difficult time locating an available organ. Wendy was
more than lucky; her survival was a miracle.
The Wendy Marx Foundation was formed with the support of Olympic champion Carl Lewis, a
family friend who was in the hospital with Wendy before her transplant.
Here are some foundation highlights:
- The Wendy Marx Foundation helped start a transplant fellowship
for doctors.
- Wendy and Carl were co-chairs of the first U.S. Transplant
Games.
- The Wendy Marx Foundation formed the U.S. Sports Council
on Organ Donation, a group of high-profile athletes, coaches and journalists.
- The Wendy Marx Foundation's educational video featuring Wendy
and Carl, called "Talk, Talk, Talk," has been widely distributed to schools
throughout the country.
- Leaders of the Wendy Marx Foundation have testified on organ
donation before a U.S. Senate hearing and a separate hearing conducted by the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services.
- The Wendy Marx Foundation has distributed more than half a
million Carl Lewis organ donor cards (designed like sports trading cards but also
carrying a commitment to donation).
- Working with other transplant-related groups,
corporations, hospitals, churches and schools, the Wendy Marx Foundation has
conducted a variety of local and regional awareness programs in some 20 states.
- In a sense, Wendy Marx and Carl Lewis have turned themselves
into "poster children" for organ donation. They have been interviewed on every
major television network and featured in countless newspaper and magazine stories about
organ donation.
Contributions are tax deductible and may be sent directly.
Partial proceeds from the book will go to the Foundation.
To reach the Wendy Marx Foundation for Organ Donor Awareness, you can
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