April is National Donate Life Month, a good time for a reminder that you have the ability to save someone’s life as an organ donor.

Last week, Eagle staff reporter William Pitts told us about Bill Hutz of Penn Township — known as the “Fishguy” for his knowledge of fish — who was undergoing kidney dialysis and was forced to close his aquarium business due to failing health. Hutz needed a kidney transplant to survive, and was put on the donation list.

“What we had hoped would be a short-lived wait was turning into a long time,” said Bill’s wife, Jackie. “One person after another was signed up to register and donate, but they never crossed the finish line to receive the approval of the transplant team.”

Bill’s survival hung in the balance until May 2018, when the Hutzes received help from an unlikely savior — Chattanooga native Oma Palmer, the sister of Jackie’s ex-husband, who came through by offering to donate a kidney.

“Almost six years later, his body has made that new kidney feel right at home,” Jackie said. “None of those other potential donors could have given him this exact and perfect gift.”

This led Bill and Jackie to create the Team Fishguy Transplant Foundation in March 2019, which is dedicated to supporting transplant patients and donors and raising awareness for organ donation.

On April 9, Bill, Jackie and other members of the foundation raised a special Donate Life flag at the Penn Township municipal building on Airport Road.

The same flag was raised Tuesday over the Butler Memorial Hospital intensive care unit.

A statement from the Pennsylvania departments of transportation and health, along with Pennsylvania organ donation organizations the Center for Organ Recovery and Education and Gift of Life Donor Program, are encouraging all driver’s license and identification cardholders to help save lives by registering to become an organ donor

According to the statement, nearly 7,000 Pennsylvanians await organ transplants, and each donor can save up to eight people.

A brief piece in the Eagle from earlier this month by staff reporter Zach Petroff had some grim statistics: Nationally, more than 100,000 people are waiting for an organ transplant, according to organdonor.gov.

Additional, at least 20 will die each day without receiving the transplant they need. Someone is added to the transplant waiting list every 10 minutes.

More than 49% of current driver’s license and identification cardholders in Pennsylvania — nearly 5 million people — are registered as organ donors. Are you one of them?

To add the organ donor designation to an existing driver’s license or identification card, visit the Organ and Tissue Donation page on the Driver and Vehicle Services website.

For more information on organ and tissue donation in Pennsylvania or to sign up to become an organ donor, please visit www.donatelifepa.org, www.core.org or www.donors1.org.

— RJ