I'm an organ donor. For as long as I've had a driver's license (and that's a while) and in every state I've called home, I've been on a state registry of potential donors. Now here's a life or death question for you: Are you a registered organ donor?

Donate Life America, an organization started by the transplant community to educate and promote organ donation, states that 70 million people in the U.S. are registered organ, eye, and tissue donors. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, as of December 2010 there are approximately 110, 274 people waiting for an organ or tissue donation. Every 10 minutes, another person is put on this waiting list, and on average, 17 people die each day waiting for a transplant. Thousands more are waiting for cornea and tissue transplants.

One organ donor can have a major impact on several recipients. According to Donate Life America, in 2007 approximately 4,600 lives were saved or enhanced by 1,521 organ donors. These donors made their wishes known through state registries. The majority of Americans use their state motor vehicle departments to register for organ donation. The process isn't complicated; usually it only involves checking a box on a form. As simple as this step may be, only 35% of licensed drivers or state ID holders nationwide have made this commitment. Anyone aged 18 or older can register as a donor. Younger donors (down to age 16) will need the consent of their parent or guardian in order to add a donor designation to their license.

Another important step in this process is to make family members aware of your intent to be an organ donor. While your donor designation through yourstate registry is all the legal authorization necessary, your donation should be discussed with your next of kin. To ensure that your wishes are carried out, let your family know how you feel about organ donation. There is no cost to donor families, and remains will still be released for burial. If there's resistance to this, let them know that an open casket is still possible, and that organ donation is consistent with the beliefs of most religions, including Catholicism, Islam, Protestantism, and most branches of Judaism. Disregard all of the myths about organ donations; medical staff will still make every effort to save your life, and organs will only be taken after death is certified.

When it comes to organ donation, the need is very high among some ethnic minorities. Even though minorities currently donate in proportion to their share of the population, the need for minority donors far outpaces donation. Here are the stats from the National Minority Organ Tissue Transplant Education Program and the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network:

• Approximately 50% of all people waiting for transplants are racial/ethnic minorities.
   
• Patients in need of a transplant are more likely to find a genetically compatible match within their own racial/ethnic group.
   
• Minority donors account for only about 25% of the available donor pool.

Minorities are disproportionately represented on the transplant list because some diseases of the major organs for which transplantation is the best option occur more often in minority populations. For instance, African Americans, Asians, and Hispanics are three times more likely to face end-stage renal disease compared to Whites, and Native Americans are four times more likely to have diabetes compared to Whites.