Opinion: New York reached a major health milestone, but we cannot take our foot off the gas

Organ donation has the power to save and transform lives. I know firsthand – after 16 years of waiting, my oldest son received a kidney transplant on Dec. 21, 2021. 

He went from undergoing dialysis multiple times a week, leaving him exhausted and debilitated, to waking up every morning full of energy and excitement. We will always be grateful to the family whose selflessness and generosity changed my son’s life – and our family’s lives – forever.

My son was one of the lucky ones. Before receiving his transplant, he was one of nearly 8,000 New Yorkers on the waiting list for a life-saving organ. Sadly, about 400 New Yorkers lose their lives each year while awaiting a match.

These are our family members, friends and neighbors. These are lives we can and must save. 

Last year, we got one step closer to ensuring every New Yorker in need receives a life-changing transplant when we passed the 50% milestone. For the first time, the majority of age-eligible New Yorkers are registered organ and tissue donors. This is a remarkable achievement – up from just 22% a decade prior.

But we can’t stop now. New York still trails far behind the national average of 64%. It’s time to double down on our commitment to increasing registered organ donors across our state.

For decades, the nonprofit Donate Life New York State has been working tirelessly to raise registration rates. Since the organization began administering the New York State Donate Life Registry in 2016, more than 3.9 million people have enrolled, saving over 20,000 lives through the gift of organ transplantation.

The organization has partnered with the state Legislature to make it easier to become a registered organ donor by adding 11 new avenues to join the Donate Life Registry – otherwise known as “doorways to donation.” Today, New Yorkers can sign up to become an organ donor when they register their vehicle, get a hunting or fishing license or register to vote. In fact, New York is the only state in the country that includes the donor question with its voter registration form.

Increasing opportunities to join the registry is crucial, but expanding access alone will not solve this crisis. Now that we’ve opened these doorways, we must ensure New Yorkers walk through them.

That means supporting organizations like Donate Life New York State in their efforts to build trust with hesitant communities – from combating misinformation and dispelling myths about organ donation to working with credible messengers to answer questions and disseminate educational materials in a variety of languages.

Due in large part to medical mistrust from centuries of racism, my home borough of the Bronx currently has the lowest registration rate in the state; just 31% of those eligible have registered as organ donors. In the most diverse county in New York, this has created a health equity crisis. While donors and recipients don’t need to be the same race, members of the same race or ethnicity are more likely to have the same blood type and tissue markers – important factors for finding a match.

With my youngest son now on dialysis and in search of a kidney donor, this issue remains deeply personal. I will not rest until Black and brown families in the Bronx like my own are just as capable of finding a life-changing match as their white counterparts in states across the country. 

Whether or not you have been personally affected by organ donation, there is no telling if or when you or someone you love will be in need of a transplant. We owe it to each other to combat this crisis head on.

Last year, my colleagues in the Assembly and state Senate, along with Gov. Kathy Hochul, each pitched in to appropriate a total of $1 million for Donate Life New York State to operate the registry. I urge us to come together once again to match this funding in the Fiscal Year 2026 state budget to sustain and expand these life-saving initiatives.

We have momentum, and we must push forward. Our families, friends and fellow New Yorkers are depending on us – we cannot let them down.