Give the gift of life

Canton Repository: Sometime within the next few weeks, barring complications, Noah Schumacher will provide a life-saving gift to a total stranger, someone whose identity he might never learn.

Schumacher, the senior pastor at High Mill Church in Plain Township, will donate a portion of his liver to a dying child.

That Schumacher would donate a vital organ to a stranger made the story unusual, but that he would join a growing list of people choosing to make life-altering donations continues to become more common, although still nowhere near the level needed to meet huge demand, both locally and nationwide.

Lifebanc, the organ procurement organization for Northeast Ohio, reported last week donors of organs, corneas and tissue saved more than 1,000 lives in 2018 – a number higher than any previous year.

LIVES OF 434 OHIOANS SAVED

Donors of organs in Northeast Ohio saved the lives of 434 people last year – a figure that has risen by more than 40 percent in the past five years. Organs from donors in Northeast Ohio were transplanted in recipients from 18 states, Lifebanc said in reporting its good news.

The first step to saving a life (or many): Register at the Ohio Donor Registry. A link and more information can be found on Lifebanc’s website, Lifebanc.org.