2,000
The number of children on the national transplant waiting list.
600
More than 25% of them are under six years old.
100
The number of children who die each year waiting for a transplant.
8
The number of lives that can be saved from a single organ donor.
75
The number of people whose lives can be improved with tissue from that same donor.
16%
Average increase per year of the number of children in need of a transplant.
1,000
The number of children who die in fatal accidents or by illness each year.
Organ Needs Vary By Age
- Young children often need to receive an organ from a donor of similar age/size for many types of transplantation
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- The organs that children tend to need most vary by age:
- Under the age of 1, most children are waiting for a liver or a heart.
- Most children ages 1-10 are waiting for a kidney or liver, followed by heart.
- Most children ages 11-17 are waiting for a kidney, followed by liver.
- Many of the children on the waiting list need a kidney that can be donated by a living donor. Living kidney donations now exceed deceased donations for pediatric transplantation, and research shows that living donors provide the best results for children undergoing kidney transplantation.
Sources: Donate Life America, Organ Procurement and Transplantaion Network
Myths + Facts