LifeLink Of Georgia Surpasses 1,000 Donor Names As Piedmont Atlanta Unit Reveals Urgent 3,000 On Transplant Waitlist

Georgia Surpasses Donor Milestone As Family Turns Tragedy Into Donor Advocacy

USA: LifeLink of Georgia has added more than 1,000 names to its donor wall, a milestone that highlights both progress and urgency in the state’s transplant system. The increase arrives as more than 3,000 Georgians remain on the national transplant waiting list; nationally the list tops 100,000, and only about 36% of Georgians are registered donors.

The names include those from a family whose 17-year-old son, Finley, passed in late 2024 from a pulmonary embolism. Finley, a high school athlete, became an organ and tissue donor; his kidneys and heart were used for transplantations and tissue donation helped restore sight for others. The family launched the LL74 Finley Christian Foundation and has partnered with LifeLink of Georgia to educate communities about donor registration and the impact a single donor can have.

Piedmont Atlanta Hospital’s donor care unit, one of a handful in the country designed to provide a different environment than a traditional ICU, marked five years of service. The unit and its partners facilitated more than 1,000 organ donations last year that translated into roughly 3,700 life-saving gifts, with new names added to the Tree of Life and donor recognition displays.

Transplant professionals and advocates stress urgent need for more registrants and community outreach. With the capacity for one body to benefit many recipients, hospitals, organ procurement organizations, and family-led foundations are ramping up education and registration drives to close the gap between need and available organs for transplantation.

Video originally published on 2026-05-20 08:32:00