After 50 Years, Donate Life Northwest Warns 22,700 Await Transplants, Kidneys Take Five Years

Donate Life Northwest Marks 50 Years, Urges Action as Thousands Wait for Transplants
November 10, 2025 — by Transplant News

USA: Donate Life Northwest celebrated its 50th anniversary this week with a large fundraising breakfast that brought roughly 275 supporters together to spotlight a regional transplant crisis. The Life Savers Breakfast adopted the song For Good from the musical Wicked as its thematic centerpiece while the executive director framed the event around the realities facing patients who need organs, eyes and tissue.

Organ transplantation remained central to the program, with a stark figure underscoring the discussion: in Oregon and Washington about 22,700 people are currently waiting for a transplant. Attendees were reminded that the local average waiting time for a kidney is about five years, a timeline the organization presented as evidence of persistent shortages and unmet need across multiple organ types.

The presentation also emphasized the outsized impact of eye and tissue donation. A single cornea donor can restore sight for two people, the executive director noted, and tissue donors are capable of saving and improving the lives of more than 150 individuals. These statistics were used to illustrate how non-organ donations translate into concrete restorations of vision, mobility and health for many recipients.

The nonprofit urged the audience and the wider public to consider registration and to learn more about donation options. Information and registration were directed to Donatelifenw.org, the group’s online portal for signing up as an organ, eye and tissue donor. Throughout the event, Donate Life Northwest positioned itself as a long-standing advocate for donation and education while calling for greater community participation to address the ongoing transplant waitlist.