Chris Dempsey figures he has written and re-written the letter at least 50 times.
It’s for the family of the person who died and gave him a kidney. Dempsey, 36, only knows it was a woman. She freed him from a large chunk of life attached to a dialysis machine, lifting him out of depression and returning him to normal life.
“Someone had to pass away to give me life and that hits me hard,” the Dauphin County resident says. “I want to let them know that even though their family member is gone, they live on in some way and they were a hero.”
Polls show most Americans — more than nine in 10 — support organ donation.
Yet less than half of Pennsylvania’s licensed drivers say so on their license. In the Harrisburg region, it ranges from 56% in Cumberland and York counties to 51% in Perry County to 48% in Dauphin County.