Hospital seeks to set organ donor record

WTNH) -- Yale-New Haven Hospital is trying to break a world record by asking people to register as organ donors.

The record is for the most people signed up to be organ donors in an 8 hour period. It's a goal worth meeting, just ask Bruce Adams.

"Without this lifesaving transplant that I had, I would not be here today," he said.

He's one of the people signing folks up to be organ donors. He's doing it because he spent three years waiting for a liver transplant.

"You know, the first year wasn't too bad and we knew what we needed, and it was worrisome, but as the years went down, my health really degraded," Adams said.

In fact, every day in the US 18 people die waiting for organ transplants. Donate Life New England put sign-up tables inside and outside Yale-New Haven Hospital. But the biggest obstacle to signing people up is ignorance. Some people think doctors won't try as hard to keep you alive if you're a donor. That's simply not true.

"When a patient comes to a hospital, physicians, surgeons, internists, their job, their reputation, everything is saving the patient's life, not to being an organ donor," said Dr. Sukru Emre, the Director at YNHH's Transplant Center.

The organs from one donor can help save dozens of lives. That's why the record is so important. It's important enough for Guinness to send Amanda Mochan, an official judge.

"The current record is 765 organ donors, so as long as we get to 766 donations, it will be a new world record," Mochan said.

17-year-old Kyleigh Leos is alive today because of a liver donation.

"To become an organ donor, you should really do it because it will save somebody," she said.

Participants have until 4 p.m. on Monday to sign up.

If you couldn't get to New Haven to be a part of the world record attempt, you can still be a part of a very good cause. You can sign up to be an organ donor at the DMV or you can click here to sign up online.

UPDATE: 564 people signed up within the allowed time, which means the record was not broken.