LifeGift

800.633.6562 | Contact Us

More than 6,200 individuals of Asian descent are currently awaiting a lifesaving organ transplant. However, in 2007, the Asian community accounted for just over 2 percent (or 2,018) of the total donors in the United States.

LifeGift is dedicated to expanding its outreach to the Asian community to increase awareness of the great need for donation. As we’ve been doing within the African-American community, our goals within the Asian community are to:

Acquaint individuals with LifeGift.
Increase organ and tissue donation awareness.
Increase donation consent rates.
Educate individuals about the lifesaving benefits of organ and tissue donation.
Address religious concerns about donation.
Acknowledge and honor donor families through special memorial ceremonies for their gift of life.

For more information about becoming involved with our outreach efforts, please contact Meredith Sharp at or 800-633-6562.

Yijia

Kidney recipient – October 31, 2006, University Medical Center, Lubbock

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Twenty-five-year-old medical students aren’t supposed to get sick. Sure, sleep deprivation and stressful situations take their toll, but failing kidneys seem too far from reality for most of us to comprehend. So when Yijia Chen was told she needed a kidney transplant, disbelief, shock and denial consumed her.

Just five months from becoming a doctor, Yijia was diagnosed with P-ANCA glomerulonephritis. The next 10 months were filled with hospital stays, seizures, minor surgeries, chemotherapy, hemodialysis and seemingly endless physician visits. Finally, Yijia’s wait was over. She received her transplant in October 2006.

When asked what transplantation means to her, she said, “A transplant is life, and organ donation is love. A transplant is a prayer answered, a renewed lease on life and a chance to dream even bigger.”