Fenway Park Organ Donor Awareness Night

Calling all of Red Sox Nation! #DonorNation

Friday, August 14th is Fenway Park Organ Donation Awareness Night – are you an organ donor? www.organize.org

• Fact: 72% of americans think they’re organ donors but only 43% of them are
• Fact: One organ donor can save up to 8 lives
• Fact: Someone new is added to the wait list every 10 minutes
• Fact: 123,000 Americans are on the wait list for a life-saving organ

To learn more about organ donation and registering to become an organ donor visit: www.organize.org

On August 14, the Red Sox are honoring Rick Segal, heart transplant recipient and son of the co-founder of Organize.org, by letting him throw out the first pitch at Fenway Park on Organ Donor Awareness night, which has been a lifelong dream of his.

Help us honor his lifelong dream and rally Red Sox Nation around organ donation for #DonorNation

Everyone at Fenway Park that night and leading up to the game can post their support by using the hashtag #DonorNation. On twitter @organ_ize on Instagram @organ_ize and on Facebook www.Facebook.com/organize.

My #DonorNation Story

We lost our dad just over 2 years ago at the age of 64. He was an organ donor, and always had been. They were unable to use his heart, but so much else was put to good and made a difference. Knowing that dad ‘lives’ on and was able to fulfill his final wish of organ donation has helped us deal with the loss of him – he is still making a difference in people lives.

Getting My License

When I was about to get my license my dad had a ‘heart to heart’ sit down conversation with me about organ donation. Even back 25 years ago he was having that type of conversation with us kids. I have been a registered organ donor since that day.

Honoring Rick Segal – Rick’s Story

Rick Segal was born in Brookline, MA and grew up as a die-hard Red Sox fan, even though he has lived his entire adult life in NYC.

He’s such a Red Sox fan that in 1986 he planned to name his 3rd son Benjamin Roger Segal (BRS for Boston Red Sox, Roger for Roger Clemens) if the Sox won the series.  He was born the night of the Buckner game, and they left him unnamed until the Series ended – at which point my dad gave up and told my mom to just name him herself (she chose Thomas Benjamin).

In 2004 he got really sick from one day to the next.  He had been an avid runner with no signs of sickness, and then one week he was having trouble with his daily run – getting winded earlier and earlier until one morning he couldn’t make it to the end of the driveway.  He was rushed the hospital, where he was told that, had he not come in that day, he might have passed away overnight.

Rick waited 5 years for a new heart.  He had 3 open-heart surgeries, including having a Left Ventricle Assist Device (LVAD) and a defibrillator implanted, which he lived with for almost a year. During that time his condition worsened until his heart was pumping at just 8% capacity.

At the very last possible moment, and a extremely terrifying time for the family, we received a call from NY Presbyterian Hospital that a heart was ready for him.  The donor was a 26 y/o male from Boston.

After my dad’s transplant, when we told him the donor was from Boston his first question was “So, I’m still a Red Sox fan?”

About Organize

ORGANIZE is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization focused on ending the organ donation crisis. Co-founders Greg Segal and Jenna Arnold launched ORGANIZE after Greg’s father Rick waited 5 years for a heart transplant. ORGANIZE is modernizing the organ donor registration process by allowing people to share their donor wishes on social media with specific hashtags, rather than at the DMV or via a long and clunky form. For its work, ORGANIZE received an Innovator in Residence position in the Secretary’s Office of the US Department of Health and Human Services, and was awarded the 2015 Verizon Powerful Answers Award as the top healthcare start-up in the country.

Connect with Organize on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.