ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — April is National Donate Life Month. Last year, New Mexico saved a record number of lives through organ donation. In 2023, 95 donors were able to make 241 transplants possible. 

Right now, more than 100,000 people are waiting for a lifesaving organ transplant. More than 600 of those are in New Mexico. 

Dozens gathered to celebrate life, organ donors, and organ recipients Friday morning.

“Something that most people don’t know is 1 in 1,000 die in a way that makes donation possible. So a lot of the times you think about checking that box and saying yes to organ donation but you don’t really realize the impact that you can have as an organ donor,” said Celina Espinoza, the External Affairs director for New Mexico Donor Services.

Among the people honored Friday, were 11 donors who lost their lives from an overdose.

KOB 4 spoke with Debbie Thomas, the mother of one of those organ donors, who says her son saved three lives.

“My son Addison was 28 years old and he was a very giving young man he chose to become an organ donor in 20-21. He donated his heart to a man in California and the recipients of his kidneys are right here in New Mexico,” she said.

Thomas said events like these are healing.

“For donor families, it’s a huge part of our grief healing to get to meet our recipients, and it’s nice for the recipients to have a visual of what their donors might look like and learn about and who they were, who their families were and things like that,” Thomas said.

Organizers say you are never too sick or too old to support organ donation. To register to donate, click here.