NORTHAMPTON — The day before Thanksgiving in 2016, Northampton resident Bob Wood got a life-changing call — literally. A 42-year-old woman in Pennsylvania had recently died, and her liver would be a perfect fit for Wood, now 68 years old, who desperately needed a transplant at the time.

“It’s bittersweet. I got a miracle, somebody else didn’t,” Wood said. “I hear people say, ‘you only live once.’ I say, ‘you only die once, so live every day.’”

Wood was one of several speakers at Northampton City Hall on Tuesday to declare April as Organ Donation Month, as city and state officials hoped to highlight the importance of registering as an organ donor at the Registry of Motor Vehicles and the current waiting list many of those needing transplants face.

“We’re not looking for a cure. We know what the cure is, it’s to honor someone else’s wishes and save someone else’s life,” said Matt Boger, the director of government relations at New England Donor Services, the federally designated organization responsible for matching donors to patients. “We are asking for a donation. And that donation is just registering as a donor, not a financial contributor, but providing the opportunity of hope, of life.”

According to Boger, more than 6,000 people across New England are currently on a waiting list for a transplant, with kidneys making the majority of organs needed. Boger also noted that 17 people across the country die every day waiting for an organ transplant.

“We don’t want anyone to pass away, period. Having someone die to save someone else’s life is a zero sum game,” Boger said. “That being said, sadly, people do pass and the opportunity to have their legacy continue on through someone else, through the miracle of organ donation is truly the definition of humanity.”

Other residents from western Massachusetts also shared their story. Longmeadow resident Hal Etkin, 66, told how he had received a heart transplant from Jack Teehan, a Plymouth man who died at the age of 26. Speaking with the Gazette, Etkin couldn’t help but be overcome with emotion when explaining how the transplant saved his life.

“Sometimes it just grabs me. It’s hard to talk about it,” he said.

Elizabeth Gorman, age 57 of East Longmeadow, shared her story about how she was the recipient of a double lung transplant in 2017, which she needed after sustaining damage from treatment of breast cancer. She said she now lives an active lifestyle, and hopes to be able to connect with the family where her donated organs came from.

“I’ve reached out to my donor via donor services, and maybe someday I’ll hear back, maybe I won’t,” Gorman said. “But that person and their family is in my thoughts every day.”

The event was also attended by Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra, who read a declaration declaring Organ Donation Month, as well as Northampton state Rep. Lindsay Sabadosa.

“I have been a registered organ donor since I could be able to,” Sciarra said. “In three states I have now been an organ donor, and of course Massachusetts being the best state of all.”

Sabadosa shared how she recently had a conversation with her daughter, who recently obtained her license, of the importance of registering as a donor.

“It’s easy to check a box. It’s much harder to really talk to your child about what happens if you’re in an accident,” she said. “You want to make sure that your organs go to saving other people’s lives. Those conversations, while hard, are really, really important.”

According to New England Donor Services, there were 549 deceased donors who donated organs in 2023, resulting in 1,401 life-saving transplants. Anyone in the state may register as a donor at their local RMV office when getting or renewing a driver’s license, Real ID, or identification card.

Alexander MacDougall can be reached at amacdougall@gazettenet.com.