Grand Forks man to testify at congressional hearing about organ donor laws

FARGO (KVRR) – He’s a bone marrow donor from Grand Forks on his way next week to Washington D.C. to talk to Congress about changing our organ donation laws for the better.

But first, he stopped by KVRR-TV to explain why.

Cole Reimann is a young dad.

He signed up in 2019 to become a bone marrow donor after hearing about a little girl who needed a match.

Reimann didn’t wind up matching with her, but he did later, with someone else.

But there are hardships to donating bone marrow and blood cells some other types of donation don’t face.

Bone marrow and blood cell donation isn’t covered by the law that protects someone’s job when they need to take time off to donate an organ.

That’s a problem for anyone who works.

But it’s an even bigger problem for young donors.

The best outcomes typically come from donors who are 18 to 30 or so.

And that’s the same group that’s newest to their careers, often who work for hourly wages, and have the least ability to take unpaid leave or risk losing job security.

Right now, about half of donors say no when they’re contacted — sometimes because of the worry about their work.

Reimann stopped by the Morning Show to talk about why donations change not just the lives of the recipient, but the lives of everyone who loves them, and about how he’s hoping to convince Congress to pass the Lifesaving Leave Act to save more lives.

For more information on blood cell and bone marrow donations, and to find out why you now don’t necessarily need to be a perfect match to save someone with your donation, check out these links:

https://bethematch.org/

https://decider.com/2024/01/18/breast-cancer-survivor-robin-roberts-tears-up-gma-major-cancer-research-breakthrough/