As Christmas Day approaches and the season and time of year is here when people think of giving gifts to others, I hope people will consider giving someone else the gift of life: Think of being an organ donor.

People do not have to wait until life ends; some organs can be given while people are alive, such as a kidney, since we need only one. It would help save a person on dialysis. Part of a liver (half) can also be donated to help a person who needs a transplant to live. Both halves of the liver will grow back to the same size before transplanting.

Unfortunately, only one-third of the 17,000 people on the liver transplant list will get a donated liver, and 20 percent of the people on the list will die each year. By having live donors, the numbers of those who die each year would go way down.

Many of those needing transplants could be people who have helped others by donating their time to help others, such as families or adults in need, children in school, sports, Scouts or church groups. At a time when they need help from others, we could give them the gift of life, just as the Christ child did for Christians, therefore making a merry Christmas for those in need.

Gordon McLaren, Harrison

Editor’s note: The author is a candidate awaiting a liver transplant.