March 27, 2008

• Honors all donors, families and recipients

• Hundreds expected to attend

• Ceremony to commemorate lives lost, organs donated

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Organ and tissue transplant recipients will join with those who made their transplants possible to celebrate life at the annual Alabama Organ Center Celebration of Life Picnic (formerly the UAB Transplant Celebration Picnic), 11 a.m.-2 p.m., Sat., April 19, at the UAB Mini-Park on the corner of University Boulevard and 14th St. South.

Alabama Organ Center (AOC) and UAB Transplant Program physicians, nurses, coordinators and other staff will host the several hundred people expected to attend the event. The picnic will include a short program hosted by Jane Geloneck, donor family liaison, photo sessions, and a brief ceremony at the Donor Tree, planted several years ago to commemorate those who lost their lives and became organ donors.

April is National Donate Life Month. It seeks to spotlight the need for more families to be aware of the critical, ongoing need for organ donation. More than 8,100 organ transplant recipients identify UAB as their transplant center.

There are more than 3,000 people in Alabama waiting for a lifesaving organ.

"We urge families to talk about organ donation. It is an opportunity to give people a second chance at life," said Dem Lalison, AOC director. "One donor can give a heart, liver, lung, kidneys and other organs, and also can help dozens through tissue donation."

For more information on the picnic or organ donation, contact the Alabama Organ Center at 205-731-9200.