To celebrate the lives of organ recipients and to honor the 3500 people per week who register to be an organ donor, April has been designated as National Donate Life Month.

Currently, 110,000 people are on the national organ waiting list and over 2500 wait in Tennessee.

“The list changes every day,” says senior public education coordinator for Tennessee Donor Services, Lisa Clark. “It changes all the time.”

That’s because 18 people die each day waiting for all types of organs. “They die off the list,” Clark said.

But, some receive their organ donation just in time. Jessica Waters is one of the lucky few.

In January 2010 Waters gave birth to her first child, son Elijah. Soon afterwards, her health quickly declined. “I was fine throughout the pregnancy,” says Waters.

Two weeks after the baby was born, Waters was admitted into critical care at Saint Thomas Hospital in Nashville. She was experiencing severe heart failure.

Within days Waters underwent emergency surgery to help her heart function. During the eight hour surgery doctors implanted a device to assist her failing heart.

“They put in an LVAD,” explains Waters. “That stands for left ventricular assistant device. It helps the left side of the heart. It’s like a pump.” But, this was only a temporary fix.

Waters experienced heart problems for most of her life. The medicine to treat her childhood cancer made her heart very weak. “I’ve dealt with a weakened heart since I can remember,” says Waters.

Waters underwent several others surgeries to correct the problem, ultimately ending with the installation of a pacemaker. She was only 19.

After the pacemaker surgery Waters met Seth, her future husband. “They got married,” says Lauren Ogle, Walter’s sister-in-law. “They wanted to have children and got pregnant immediately.”

Although the LVAD helped some, Waters was still very weak. “I didn’t have a lot of energy,” she says. “I couldn’t get up and go. My husband was doing a lot of taking care of the baby.”

The LVAD surgery did have other benefits though. Waters was put on top priority status, for receiving an organ, for 30 days afterwards.

In June 2010 Waters received the news that she would be getting a heart. “We were on the twenty-eighth day (of top priority status) when we got the call,” she says. “I was expecting to wait a lot longer. I expected to wait years. We had accepted the fact that I wasn’t going to get it.”

Upon hearing the good news, Waters and her husband cried tears of joy. “I was really excited,” she says. “I was more excited than I was scared. I was just ready to go and do it.”

At the age of 23, Waters received her heart transplant. “After I woke up from the surgery I was excited,” she says. “I could feel that I didn’t have the pump any more. But, I was in a lot of pain.”

Waters’ family felt similar excitement. “She’s doing well,” says Ogle. “She’s had some issues, but overall she’s doing great. Now she gets to watch her little boy grow up.”

Ogle admits that although the thought of being an organ donor crossed her mind, she never took the idea seriously. “It wasn’t anything that weighed heavy on me until (Waters) was sick,” she said. “I was kind of selfish about it. I didn’t think anyone else’s life was more important than mine. You don’t think it will happen to you or someone in your family. It’s been a humbling experience.”

Now, Ogle and several other family members have registered as donors. “A lot of our family and we have become organ donors since all of this happened,” says Waters. “We talk to people about it locally. We really think it’s important.”

Ogle is passionate about the cause too. “Organ donation is very important,” she says. “When you are gone, you don’t need your organs. Why not give them to someone who needs them?”

Organ donation gave Waters a new life. “I’m now able to watch my son grow up,” she says. “I’m able to be a mom. When I got sick I didn’t know it would still be possible. It’s amazing. It makes you appreciate every day and all the little things.”

To register as an organ, eye or tissue donor visit www.tndonorregistry.org. Or, check yes when applying for or renewing Tennessee driver’s licenses.