The process of organ donation begins with the death or near-death of a patient. When this situation occurs, federal regulations require that the hospital contact the Organ Procurement Organization to confirm the patient's potential to become a donor. The donor is either excluded for health reasons or approved and the process begins. The OPO immediately enters all medically necessary information into the organ donor registry. The Organ Procurement and Transplant Network (OPTN) is an organization that began in 1984 when Congress passed the National Transplant Act that prohibited the sale of human organs and created a system to manage organ distribution. OPTN searches for a suitable match in the database of pending recipients, called UNet. This database is maintained by the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) under a contract with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. UNet, available 24 hours a day, electronically connects all transplant hospitals and matches donor organs to recipients according to a classified list of eligible patients based on specific characteristics. These characteristics are blood type, tissue type, height and weight. Other factors that must be taken into consideration are the patient's waiting time, the severity of the patient's illness, and the distance between the donor and recipient hospitals. The patient may be too ill or cannot be reached in time. Once the donor and recipient are matched, the actual transplant process begins. There are many steps involved in the transplant process. There are living donors and there are deceased donors depending on the organs donated. The organs that can be donated from a living donor are the kidney, liver, lu...... middle of paper ...... Organ transplantation has changed medicine and is one of the most incredible developments in the 20th century. Just over 50 years ago, the first whole organ transplant with a kidney (“UNOS DonateLife”) was performed. Technology has allowed organ transplantation to fully evolve and is now a common, everyday task and carries low risk. We may not have been struck by the need for a transplanted organ, but at some point in our lives our paths will cross. Donors touch the lives of organ recipients in unimaginable ways. It could give a girl many years with her mother that would otherwise have been a devastating loss at such a young age. It can give a child the chance to go to college and have a family of their own. We must educate and inspire communities about the benefits of organ donation. You may never know the true impact of a donation.