What can you do?
- Send your contribution to:
Heroes Donor Foundation
PO Box 415
Sycamore, IL 60178 - Sign up to become a deceased donor. Experts suggest that each of us could save or help as many as 50 people by being an organ and tissue donor at our death.
- Volunteer for HDF.
Call or e-mail us to find out how you can help us grow.
- 815-991-5246
- info@heroesdonorfoundation.com
100,000 Americans are in need of an organ transplant
Every hour of every day, more people are added to the national organ transplant waiting list: men, women and children who need donated kidneys, hearts, eyes, and lungs. Some of these organs come from deceased donors. Some come from living heroes who give what their bodies can spare to family members and sometimes strangers.
Each day:
- 308 men, women and children are added to the donor list.
- 77 receive transplants.
- 18 die because organs were not available.*
While medical advances have made it safer and easier to be an organ donor, the cost is often prohibitive. Most employers give donors time off but cannot afford to pay their salaries. The loss of income during the 1-3 months of surgery and recuperation can be devastating. There are also travel, testing, and prescription expenses.
The sad fact is many people simply cannot afford to be an organ donor.
* Numbers are averages. For up-to-the-minute totals, visit www.organdonor.gov.
Heroes Donor Foundation can help.
We help ease the national donor organ crisis by:
- Working side-by-side with employers of donors to minimize the possible loss of wages during the transplant and recovery time afterward.
- Easing the financial burden of lodging, meals and travel during and after the transplant procedure.
- Providing financial assistance for unforeseen expenses when other resources are not available.
- Encouraging everyone to become a deceased donor.
The HEROES DONOR FOUNDATION needs you.
We need heroes like you.
The Heroes Donor Foundation grew out of the experience of Mike Berlinski, who, in 2005, donated a kidney to his father.
At the hospital, Mike met the wife of another donor. Her husband had planned to donate a kidney to his uncle, but the uncle died before surgery. To honor his uncle, he was donating to a stranger. Because of her husband’s time off to recuperate, the wife had to take a part-time job and they struggled to make ends meet.
The sad fact is most organ donors do not receive sick pay or other compensation while they're at home recuperating. This places a financial burden on their families. Our not-for-profit foundation helps fill the gap by providing financial assistance when other resources are not available.
We hope you will learn more about our organization and consider becoming a hero, either by donating an organ or donating funds to help ease the financial burden of organ donation.
Either way, you’re sharing the gift of life -- and that makes you our hero.
Thank you,
Mike Berlinski
Founder & President
Heroes Donor Foundation is a not-for-profit corporation duly organized under the General Not-For-Profit Corporation Act of the State of Illinois and in good standing. Heroes Donor Foundation has applied to the Internal Revenue Service for approval as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization so that donations can be taken as charitable deductions on income tax returns. However, the Internal Revenue Service has not yet approved that application. Copyright © 2008, The Heroes Donor Foundation, Chtd.