LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Donate Life Kentucky held a Volunteer Appreciation Day at the Louisville Zoo on Saturday. 

The event was a way to say 'thank you' to volunteers for the time they’ve dedicated to the organ donation mission, transplant recipients who share their stories to inspire people to register as organ donors and the families of donors who made a decision to save a life after losing someone they love. 

“These donor families are the absolute epitome of heroes. In their darkest moments they were able to think outside of themselves and think how they could help another family who was dealing with immense pain,” said Trust for Life executive director Shelley Snyder. “To be able to support these families, give them that platform to share their loved one's story, and keep saying their name and excitedly, you know, proudly share the number of lives their loved one impacted, it just means the world so it's a real honor to get to work with these donor family.”

Right now there are more than 1,000 Kentuckians waiting on a life-saving organ, and that number grows by the minute. 

Synder said the organ donor list is the only chance for those waiting to receive the gift of life. 

“Every registered donor, which is over 2 million registered donors in Kentucky, are really just giving hope to all those patients and their families that are waiting,” Synder said. 

Volunteers work at an organ donor registration booth at the Louisville Zoo. (Spectrum News 1/Ashley N. Brown)

Donate Life volunteers ran a registration booth and shared information about the impact organ donations have on the community with Zoo visitors during the appreciation day. 

“People can wait years and years. Kidney transplants are the longest, and sometimes that can be 5 or even 10 years that people wait on dialysis in need of a life-saving kidney transplant,” Synder added. 

Jeff McMahan has multiple close relatives who have needed a lifesaving transplant and thought he dodged that bullet. 

At the age of 59, while serving in the U.S. at Fort Knox, McMahan learned he was set to become the sixth person in his family to require a heart transplant. 

Because of his heart’s condition, finding a match quickly was vital. McMahan was shocked when a match was found for him a month after his diagnosis.

“They say I'm a walking miracle and I'm tickled to death to be alive and I do try to promote people becoming donors, you know, all the time,” McMahan said. 

He said he does so because even though his match was found in a matter of weeks, his brother and multiple other relatives have waited months and even years. Some never found a match. 

McMahan might not know the name of the person’s heart that saved his life,  but says people who think about someone else in  one of the toughest moments of their lives are his hero.  

“I'd love to give them a hug and say you know, god bless them and their family member that had to give up their life so that I might live,” McMahan said. “I mean that is the ultimate sacrifice. Of course, they may not have chose it that way but it's still, you can't do anything anymore for a person then give up your life.”