Log on, become an organ donor

Starting today, you can declare your intentions to be an organ donor via the Internet.

North Carolina's organ and tissue procurement agencies have banded together to create the state's first online donor registry. North Carolina's Organ Tissue and Eye Online Registry goes live today, in honor of National Donate Life Month.

The site has the potential to increase the number of organ donors in North Carolina as the federal government is challenging organ procurement agencies to boost anatomical gifts. Currently, most donors sign up through the N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles. But that system misses many opportunities, since residents are required to renew only every five to eight years.

HOW DOES THE REGISTRY WORK?

Prospective donors can go to www.verybigheart.com and fill out an electronic form. Type in your name, address, date of birth, mother's maiden name and North Carolina driver's license number. The new site synchronizes with the existing list of donors registered by DMV to maintain a current record. Donors may grant all organs, or limit gifts to solid organs, such as heart and kidneys, or tissues such as tendons and bone.

WHY BE AN ORGAN DONOR?

More than 98,000 Americans, including more than 3,000 North Carolinians, await an organ transplant. Many have been waiting for years and, because demand far outstrips the supply of organs, some will die waiting. Thousands of other patients benefit from donated tissues such as tendons and ligaments. Organ and tissue donation agencies estimate that a single donor can benefit up to 50 patients.

HOW WILL MY DECISION BE HONORED?

Hospitals notify organ procurement agencies when patients are declared brain dead, so that names can be matched against the DMV donor registry. With the online registry, organ procurement agencies will tap into it to verify donor status. Under a 2007 state law, once a person age 18 or older registers as an organ donor, the decision cannot be revoked, except by that individual.