Since the first kidney transplantation in 1954, medical science has made enormous strides. Each year, thousands of Americans get a second chance at life because of organ transplantation. Transplant recipients usually lead such normal, active lives, that you wouldn't even know they had received the gift of life.

A transplant recipient could be that person next to you on the subway or the fan at Yankee Stadium or Shea Stadium. Perhaps it's the wide-eyed kid in a Westchester classroom; a father with his family at Jones Beach; a New York City Marathon participant from Brooklyn; or the smiling grandmother walking with her giddy grandchildren through Times Square.

But without the compassion and generosity of organ and tissue donors, there would be no life-saving transplantation.

This is where the New York Organ Donor Network plays such a pivotal role - coordinating all organ and tissue donations in New York City and its surrounding counties, and by educating the general public and health care professionals about donation and transplantation.

The New York Organ Donor Network is the nonprofit, federally designated organ procurement organization that serves the Greater New York metropolitan area. Of the 58 organ procurement organizations in the United States, we are the second largest. We seek family consent and recover organs (hearts, livers, kidneys, pancreas, lungs and intestines) for transplantation. We also seek family consent for the donation of tissues (including corneas, skin, bone, tendons and heart valves) and work with recovery teams from various tissue banks.

What is it that makes the NYODN service area so unique?

New Yorkers live with a passion that can't be matched anywhere else. Even though they have a reputation for being tough, when New Yorkers help each other, there is no stopping them. With a keen lust for life, we don't know the meaning of "it can't be done." That's why the New York Organ Donor Network, turns to the compassionate and generous nature of New Yorkers, as we ask: "Won't you please save a life?"

Please explore the New York Organ Donor Network Web site @ www.donatelifeny.org to learn all you can about organ and tissue donation, and start discussing it with your loved ones. Remember, organ and tissue donation is a family decision.

Bryan Johnson Motorsports fully supports, and recommends that you support the New York Organ Donor Network & here is why...

In 2006, Scott A. Johnson, the founder/team owner of Johnson Motorsports, and the father to Michael & Bryan Johnson was involved in a very serious motorcycle accident. Scott was riding his 2004 Harley Davidson Dyna Wide Glide home from a local car show meet in a parking lot in Oakdale. He was traveling on Montauk Highway, when a car coming towards him made a turn into a parking lot. She used no signal light, no warning she was turning into the parking lot. Scott, did all he could do to avoid hitting her car, which he did, but unfortunately he lost control of the motorcycle due to the evasive maneuvers he had to take. His motorcycle laid down and skidded down the roadway, but Scott had already slammed his head against the ground... not once, but twice. This women had then proceeded to leave the scene of the accident, but thankfully two witnesses called the Suffolk County Police Department 911.

Police, Fire Department, and EMT workers were on the scene almost immediately. Scott was then transferred by ambulance to the Southside Hospital in Bay Shore, NY with severe head trauma. Scott was unconscious, and slipped into a coma. He has severe swelling and pressure on the brain which had to be relieved. Neurologists came a little too late as the window for swelling on the brain is one to two hours. Scott was now into a deep coma, and things looked grim. He laid in a hospital bed for 3 days, until the point that his blood pressure dropped through the floor and his body began to shut down.

On July 30th, 2006, Scott A. Johnson was pronounced legally brain dead. At this time the Johnson family was put into contact with the New York Organ Donor Network representative that was located at the Southside Hospital. We went over the options, and talked about what the family could do to help other people who are in need of Organ & Tissue donations.

In the end, Scott A. Johnson saved the lives of 4 unknown people. His legacy lives on inside of these 4 people, who now can spend the rest of their lives with their families, as now they have been given a second chance at life.

This is why Bryan Johnson Motorsports supports the N.Y. Organ Donor Network. Look what you can do to help someone else with a life-saving transplant of an Organ or Tissue Donation.

Think about it... Donate Life!