New England Donor Services Announces Record Number of Life-Saving Organ Donors in 2024

As leading OPO achieves new records for fourth consecutive year with 648 organ donors in the region that resulted in 1,570 life-saving organ transplants, NEDS calls on the federal government and national leaders to speed regulatory reform

New England Donor Services (NEDS) today announced record numbers of life-saving deceased donor organ donations and transplants. In 2024, NEDS coordinated organ donations from 648 deceased donors resulting in 1,570 life-saving transplants. This record level of clinical activity represents a fourth year of consecutive growth and places NEDS among the nation’s top three organ procurement organizations (OPOs) by donor volume. Since 2020, NEDS has increased the annual number of organ donors by 80 percent.

NEDS also coordinated the recovery of donated tissue from 1,840 donors, including donated cornea, bone, skin, heart valves and other tissues used in necessary medical procedures to heal and transform lives. This past year there was a particular need for skin grafts used in post-mastectomy procedures. Tissue donated through NEDS is used in over 100,000 tissue transplants each year.

“These life-saving transplant are only made possible through the generosity of our organ and tissue donors and their families,” said Alexandra K. Glazier, President and CEO of New England Donor Services. “The organization’s record-breaking performance is a credit to our incredible team who work diligently to honor donors and their families that say ‘yes’ to the gift of life. The U.S. system of donation and transplant leads the world but there is still work to be done. Currently, a misalignment in federal regulations results in too many donated organs that are recovered and offered for transplant by organizations such as NEDS ultimately going unused by transplant programs for patients waiting. For our national system to continue growing the number of life-saving transplants, it is critical that regulatory reform be pursued as quickly as possible.”

NEDS is the federally designated non-profit organization responsible for the recovery of organs and tissues for transplant in the region. Working sensitively with donor families, NEDS staff of over 350 employees screen for potential donation opportunities, lead donation authorization discussions, maintain medical support of potential donors, coordinate surgical recovery of donated organs and tissues, allocate organs according to the national transplant waiting list and direct transport of organs to transplant centers and tissues to processors.

Stephanie McCarthy, who is 32 and lives in Ipswich, MA with her husband, Dennis, and dog, Abby, received a heart transplant in 2024. McCarthy said, “The strength of a donor family to give hope to strangers in the face of tragedy is immeasurable to me. My donor’s heart continues to beat in my chest as a quiet reminder that they remain here as my hero helping me live this new chapter of life.”

In addition to representing a record year for organ and tissue donation for New England, 2024 included several other milestones. In June 2024, NEDS coordinated 64 organ donors that resulted in 154 life-saving transplants; the most ever recovered and transplanted in a single month in New England. In November 2024, NEDS reached 600 donors for the calendar year, the first time that milestone was achieved in the region.

Among the reasons NEDS cited leading to another record-breaking performance:

• NEDS staff engage with families earlier in end-of-life discussions in cases of non-survivable brain injuries to ensure organ donation will not interfere with the family’s timing after a patient’s death.
• Utilization of state-of-the art organ profusion devices and techniques – such as normothermic regional perfusion (NRP) – to improve the function of donated organs after surgical recovery but prior to transplant, especially from older and/or more medically complex donors.
• Employment of three, in-house, full-time NEDS surgeons to recover organs to ensure timely availability of a surgical team as needed; whereas in the past only surgeons employed by transplant centers performed surgical recoveries.
• The organization’s ability to attract and retain top clinical professionals at a staffing level, which allows NEDS to maximize every donation opportunity.

One person can save up to eight lives as an organ donor and heal 75 people as a tissue donor. Residents of New England can register as donors on their driver’s license, through the Apple iPhone health app or on the national Donate Life Donor Registry at www.RegisterMe.org.

About New England Donor Services (NEDS)

New England Donor Services is a leading nonprofit organization that coordinates organ and tissue donation in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, the eastern counties of Vermont and Bermuda. Co-founded in 1968 by Nobel Laureat Dr. Joseph Murray, who performed the world’s first successful organ transplant, today NEDS works with thousands of donors and donor families who have generously made the decision to give the gift of life. The organization’s highly skilled staff medically screen referrals for potential donations from more than 200 hospitals across the region and lead all donor authorization discussions with families. NEDS also allocates organs according to the national transplant waiting list and coordinates their transport to ensure the right organs get to the right patients at the right time. Learn more at https://neds.org/ or follow us on LinkedIn or on X at @NEDonorServices.

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