Susan Sanders, right, of Southwick, holds a Donate Life flag with her mom Eleanor Bates at the Southwick Town Hall. Sanders received a heart transplant in 2008. (File photo by chief photographer Frederick Gore).
SOUTHWICK – There are three flags flying around town this month that may not be familiar, but they send a very important message.
The Donate Life flags were raised yesterday in honor of Donate Life Month. Southwick residents Susan Sanders and Sharon Alexander asked the Select Board to raise the flag at Town Hall.
“I am happy to say the flag is flying here, at the police station, and at Southwick Funeral Home,” Sanders said last night during a ceremony at Town Hall.
Sanders is the recipient of a donated heart.
Sanders suffered from a heart condition for many years and was able to manage it with medication, until 2008.
“I just couldn’t control it with medication any longer and I was put on the waiting list for a heart transplant,” Sanders said.
Fortunately, Sanders received a matching heart fairly quickly.
“I was lucky that I only waited seven months,” she said. “It is determined by who is the best candidate, who is the sickest and who is the best match.”
Alexander’s friend was involved in a car accident and donated organs to help save lives.
Sanders said she is grateful every day for the gift she was given.
“Speaking as, and for, donor recipients, I am grateful to be living a life made possible by a donor,” said Sanders.
According to donatelife.net, currently more than 110,000 men, women and children are awaiting organ transplants to save their lives. Thousands more are in need of tissue and cornea transplants to restore their mobility and sight.
The site is calling for 20 million donors to register in 2012. For more information, visit donatelife.net.
