Beverly Press/Park Labrea News: Cedars-Sinai Raises Flag to Encourage Lifesaving Organ Donation

The Beverly Press/Park Labrea News recently interviewed Tsuyoshi Todo, MD, surgical director of the Kidney Transplant Program in the Comprehensive Transplant Center at Cedars-Sinai, about the importance of organ donation.

The medical center recently hosted a flag-raising event to commemorate Donate Life Month, which raises awareness about the urgent need for organ donors.

Todo, director of the Abdominal Transplant Surgery Fellowship, told the Beverly Press/Park Labrea News that organ donors give the ultimate gift to people who need a transplant to survive. 

“Many patients with end organ failure, from liver failure to kidney failure, patients that are on dialysis, heart and lung failure—when you have end organ disease, the only thing we can do to save somebody is with transplantation,” he said. “Unfortunately, organs don’t grow on trees, so we really have to rely on the generosity of donors and donor families.”

Richard Aidem, who received a heart transplant at Cedars-Sinai, said his life depended on the generosity of an organ donor.

“I wouldn’t be around today,” he said. “I was a couple days away from dying. The goal is to spread the word because there’s a big shortage of organs.”

Todo told the Beverly Press/Park Labrea News that with more than 100,000 people currently on the transplant waiting list, there is a significant need for more awareness. 

“But hopefully, we’ll get there, and this is just a small part of it,” he said of the event. 

Todo and other Cedars-Sinai surgeons in the Comprehensive Transplant Center and the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai completed 682 solid organ donations in 2024—a new record for the hospital—and maintained excellent patient outcomes.

Click here to read the complete article from the Beverly Press/Park Labrea News.