Update from Tom - SUNDAY, MARCH 15, 2009 05:00 PM, CDT

[Guest guest]

I must be feeling better because I'm inspired to do some tubthumping again.April is National Donate Life Month, but why wait? I'm convinced that I should be a vocal advocate for organ donation. Here is a press release I wrote over the weekend which I will use to press the cause. Who knows? Maybe someone will be inspired.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASENational Donate Life Month CelebratedSTERLING, Virginia (March 15, 2009) - In celebration of National Donate Life Month in April, Acumen Accounting, Inc. is encouraging people to save lives by becoming organ, tissue, marrow, and blood donors.

C. , EA, co-founder of the new Sterling, Virginia-based accounting and tax practice, received a life-saving liver transplant just three months ago. “At any moment, nearly 2,000 people in our area are awaiting some kind of organ transplant,” said . “Many of them will die before an organ becomes available. I am one of the lucky ones.”

For nearly ten years, suffered from Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis, a rare and incurable degenerative disease of the bile ducts. His only chance of survival was a liver transplant, but the demand for organs far outweighs the supply. As ’s disease approached its end stage, a living donor stepped forward and courageously donated part of his liver to save ’s life. The surgery was performed at town University Hospital in Washington, DC on December 4, 2008. Both and his donor are recovering and are working again.

“Live donor liver transplants are possible because the liver regenerates,” according to . “It’s a tremendous, heroic sacrifice for the donor, and I will never be able to articulate how grateful I am. Today, I am part of a new business and I have a new life because of someone’s generosity.”

With continuous advances in medical technology, organ transplants are highly successful, and transplant recipients usually recover to live normal, productive lives. While recuperation can be slow and filled with both progress and setbacks, has no regrets. “Every day is a blessing,” said . “I want to use my experience to promote the importance of organ donation and to show how lives are changed positively with successful transplants.”

’s experiences are chronicled at http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/thomasbutler.National Donate Life Month was started in 2003 to promote and celebrate organ donation and the lives saved by transplants. The Washington Regional Transplant Community has further information on organ donation at http://www.wrtc.org.

###Contact: C. , EAtom@... (703) 963-0509 

 

To send a message to Tom, Kathy and family goto;

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/thomasbutler