One million transplants. One million lives saved. One million families restored. The United States witnessed this historic milestone in 2022. We are in awe of the thousands of heroic donors and their courageous families from Colorado and Wyoming who contributed to this remarkable achievement. And we recognize that for every transplant of the one million completed, each donor, each recipient, has a story of their own – and is truly a one-in-a-million hero to many.

Our region recorded record-breaking year for organ donation; the generosity of 278 heroic organ donors resulted in 829 life-saving organ transplants in 2022. This marked the region’s eighth consecutive year of growth, with a 19% increase in donors and a 29% increase in transplants compared to 2021. In addition to the lives saved through organ donation, we were proud to also work with the families of 1,911 tissue donors to recover lifesaving and healing tissue for bone and skin grafts, which will help up to 143,000 more lives to be saved or healed.

The Donor Alliance team remains steadfast in our commitment to fulfill our mission of saving and healing lives through organ and tissue donation. We remain passionately committed to continuous performance improvement, and we have invested in tools, technology and personnel to increase lifesaving potential. In 2022, this included preservation equipment and processes to increase transplantation as we honored the lifesaving and healing gifts from donors after circulatory death. We also elevated medical director Dr. Paul Lange to chief medical officer, which has allowed us to grow our physician services.

In addition to a record number of lives saved, Colorado and Wyoming remained two of the most generous states in the country when it comes to registering to become organ and tissue donors. Both Colorado and Wyoming maintained some of the nation’s highest donor designation rates at 66% and 61% respectively — both well above the national average of 49%.

Donor Alliance is proud of our awareness-driving activities in 2022, which helped propel understanding of donation and transplantation, and ultimately inspired residents to join the Colorado or Wyoming donor registries. We had our largest-ever National Donate Life Month celebration, with a month full of buildings across our two-state area lighting up in blue and green, local and state governments making proclamations in recognition of the cause, and more. Our signature Donor Dash and Donor Family Tribute events returned to being held in person, with tremendous attendance and impactful stories of hope shared by donor families, recipients, and those who continue to wait for a lifesaving or healing transplant. We were honored to celebrate Community Award recipients Northglenn High School, where STEM students wrote seven children’s books to educate the community about organ and tissue donation.

Donor Alliance continues to be amazed and inspired by the generosity of residents across our region, leading to another record-breaking year of honoring donors, increasing transplants and saving more lives than ever before. Each donor, each family member of a donor, each recipient, each partner in our effort to promote the lifesaving potential of donation, is truly one in a million.

In Gratitude,