MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. — A Milledgeville man has been waiting for a liver for over a year now.
53-year-old Scott Brown of Milledgeville fell sick over a year ago and hasn't worked since.
"I knew that I was sick, but I didn't know what I had or what the problem was," Brown said.
After various doctor visits and a trip to Emory University, Brown was diagnosed with end-stage liver disease landing him on the national transplant waiting list.
A year has gone by and he is still waiting on a liver.
According to the US Department of health and Human Services, as of July 29, 4,025 people are currently waiting for an organ in Georgia and 305 of them are waiting for a liver.
Nationally, there are 106,804 people waiting for an organ and 11,816 are waiting for a liver.
"Our work is never done, that wait list is still there and you have those people still waiting and it's tough," said project manager of Lifelink Georgia, Tracy Ide.
Lifelink Georgia is an organization that helps supply organs nationwide.
Ide is the daughter of a two-time heart and one-time kidney recipient herself.
"As a family member waiting, you don't know. Is today the day? Is today the day where her life is going to be saved by a transplant or is today the day we are going to lose her because an organ has not become available in time," Ide said.
Brown says he's ready to get healthy and back to living his life.
"You want to get a transplant, but you still have sympathy for other people. You don't want anybody else to give up their life for me to get that organ, but I know that that is the only way that that is going to happen," he said.
Brown's church, Black Springs Baptist Church in Milledgeville, is hosting a fundraiser for the Georgia Transplant Foundation on September 19 at 6 p.m.
Antioch Southern Gospel Group will be performing for free, but the church will be passing around a love offering.
There are several ways you can register to be a donor.
You can do it when you are getting your driver's license, even when you are renewing, or obtaining a new one or a state ID.
You can also go online to www.donatelifegeorgia.org and sign up, or you can go through the Department of Natural Resources, when you are obtaining a hunting or fishing license, and sign up then to become an organ donor.
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