Former NFL player works to recruit minority organ donors

ATLANTA - Bobby Howard's life changed in 1994, when the former Tampa Bay Buccaneer's running back went into kidney failure at 28.

After 7 months on dialysis, Howard got a break, when a kidney from a deceased donor was found for him.

"That's why I live today," Howard says. "That's why I do the job that I do."

Because, 28 years later, that transplanted kidney is still going strong.

"I just think the person, who I'll never have the opportunity to meet, is just one heck of a person, to truly understand the importance of life," Howard says.

Bobby Howard (Supplied)

Howard now works for LifeLink of Georgia, as Director of the organ procurement organization's Multicultural Donation Education Program.

He and his team are working to boost the number of minority organ, eye and tissue donors in Georgia, especially African Americans.

Howard says he does sometimes get pushback, when he talks about organ donation.

"The biggest reservation that we hear is that the mistrust of health care," Howard says. "So, many people believe that if they have 'organ donor' on their driver's license, that once that's noted, that hospitals and health care professionals will not do everything they can to save their lives.

Be the Gift campaign  (FOX 5)

Howard says he explains that that is a myth.

"Health care professionals are here to save our lives, not take our lives away, and they're going to do everything humanly possible to save you," Howard says. "If they cannot, and once that has been determined, that's when we come in."

Lifelink representatives meet with families at hospitals, to ask if they would were willing to donate their loved one's organs.

Howard says their goal is to engage people now, and answer their questions about organ donation, long before hard decisions have to be made.

"When you have a tragic accident, and someone loses their life, then you're approached about becoming an organ and tissue donor, and you haven't really discussed it, it's a hard bearing, it's a hard conversation to have with families," Howard explains.

Be the Gift campaign  (FOX 5)

The LifeLink Foundation recently launched the Be the Gift campaign to encourage people, especially those in minority communities, to sign up to become organ, eye and tissue donors.

You can read more about the Be the Gift campaign at bethegiftlifelink.com/why-be-the-gift.

One donor, they say, can potentially save 8 lives.

(FOX 5)

If you want to one day become donor, Bobby Howard says let the people in your life who matter know your wishes.

"The most important thing is to have that discussion with your family, so that everyone in your immediate family knows what your decision is," Howard says. "So, when it comes to that point in time, they can support your decision, and you have made that decision with your family."