LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – Your students are supposed to learn life skills in the classroom, but the new material they’re learning now, can actually save lives.
It’s all thanks to a new partnership between the Nevada Donor Network and the Nevada Department of Education. The goal is to teach middle schoolers and high school students all about organ, eye and tissue donation in hopes of boosting donor numbers among DMV-aged students.
It’s the first statewide donor curriculum, and material will be taught in health class.
Kidney recipient, Tyre Gray of the Nevada Donor Network explains how one person can make a big difference.
“They can save up to eight lives, heal up to 75 lives (with tissue donation) and restore sight for up to two people.”
Gray had kidney disease in his 20’s and had to wait six years to get that kidney.
“There’s a period of denial. Then there comes the stages of grief, if you will. Then you finally arrive at acceptance, and you start to battle with the acceptance of wow, like it might really be the end of it for me,” Gray said.
Gray says from that moment on, his life took a completely new path, never taking anything for granted, becoming an attorney and ending up working for the Nevada Donor Network as the Chief Administrative and Legal Officer. He explains to FOX why there are so many donors here.
“By sheer fact that we are in the hospitality industry in Nevada, we see that at a higher rate than even some of our sister states,” Gray said. “People elect for donation here in Nevada because again, we’re a community and we believe in that hospitality and that hospitable feel.”
Nevada Donor Network reps tell us there are 1.7 million registered donors in Nevada. But the fact that this first-ever statewide curriculum for teachers and students to raise awareness about organ, eye and tissue donation is happening now shows the need for more donations, specifically from this age group.
Take it from Kimberly Flores with the Nevada Donor Network. She says this one thing the students learn is the most eye opening for them.
“Some of the impact stories that we have included in the curriculum are actually youth recipients who at one point were on that wait list,” Flores said. “So students are surprised to see, wow, this could have been one of my peers.”
The new requirement means all 260 middle and high school students will be taught the basics of organ donation in health class.
The goal is to increase donor numbers. Flores tells FOX5 it’s never about pressuring students into becoming donors, just giving them the tools they need to make an informed decision.
More than 100,000 Americans are on the National Organ Transplant list. About 700 Nevadans are waiting.
The Nevada Donor Network will be at Lee Canyon Saturday, January 11th, 2025. It’s hosting the 10th annual Chris Ruby Memorial Cup, celebrating the late snowboarder’s legacy.
Ruby’s final act was to donate hope and health to dozens of transplant patients.
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