Euphoria in Offenbach: Woman receives donors on Christmas Eve!

On December 27, 2024, East Hesse-News reported that a young woman from Offenbach was waiting for a donor starter for a long time. On Christmas Eve, she surprisingly received the news about the upcoming organ transplant. In the clinic in Frankfurt, the doctors tried in vain to reach the woman. Then they turned to the police to receive support in contacting.

A police patrol then drove to the woman's apartment to personally deliver the enjoyable news. The woman's reaction to this message was characterized by great joy and emotion. The officials then organized an ambulance to the clinic to transport the woman for the operation.

Background for organ transplantation in Germany

In parallel to this event, current statistics on organ transplantation in Germany are available. According to Eurotransplant, a total of 8,394 patients were actively on the waiting list on January 1, 2024. In 2023, 4384 new patients came to the waiting list, while in the same time 3247 organ transplants were carried out by deceased donors.

Eurotransplant acts as a service organization for the allocation of donor organs in eight European countries, including Germany, Belgium, Croatia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Austria, Hungary and Slovenia. The Eurotransplant catchment area comprises around 139 million people. Every year the organization conveys around 7,000 donor organs and is based on the allocation to criteria such as blood group, tissue type and other characteristics.

The allocation of organs takes into account the urgency, waiting time, the expected success and the national organ exchange balance. 79 transplant centers in the member states are active, the patient data in a central database. The allocation is guaranteed by a team of qualified staff around the clock.