Rafael Eli is looking for a kidney donor.

Dear Friends in the Hispanic Marketing Community.

HispanicAd.com has again generously offered to allow me to discuss the urgent need for organ donation in the Hispanic community. Thousands of our fellow Latinos are on long lists awaiting organ transplants. Donated organs are the gift of life.

I speak from my own personal experience. I am a dialysis patient. I go to dialysis three days a week, for 4 hours each time. I am responding well to the treatments and it gives me energy to live life normally. Yet I know that the one thing that will really make a difference is a kidney transplant.

So, allow me to share some information about organ donation.

Organ donation lists are managed by UNOS (United Network for Organ Sharing).

In New York City, where I live, the local affiliated chapter is the New York Organ Donor Network (NYODN). There are 58 such chapters across the US, including every key Hispanic market.

As of last week, 98 thousand persons were waiting to receive a kidney on these lists. Sometimes they don’t receive an organ in time.

It can take up to 10 years to obtain an organ from a waiting list.

In my case, I am on waiting lists and have also been looking for a live donor.

Last February, HispanicAd.com published my first letter about my search for a kidney. As a result of that letter, 8 people offered to be tested as live donors and one of them was a match. I have actually had three matches and, so far….for one reason or another none have progressed to a transplant. So, my search continues.

Did you know….Latinos in NY tend to over-index in organ donation? 67% of all NYC Latino families that are asked to donate a relative’s organs said YES…that’s greater than any other demographic group. Yet, this over-indexing is not true nationwide. Across the US only 16% of Latino families say YES. So, you can see there is a big need to raise awareness in our own community nationwide.

I have been working with local Hispanic media to get the word out about the need for organ donation:

In February, Telemundo’s New York affiliate interviewed me while I was taking a dialysis treatment. In this segment they also feature Julia Rivera who is in charge of the Hispanic market for the NYODN.

Univision’s New York affiliate will soon execute a pro-bono campaign for the NYODN. It includes TV specials, news segments, PSAs and cross-promotion with on-line and radio.

You can help. Here are several ways….

Agree to be a donor. Visit the United Network for Organ Sharing Website www.unos.com http://www.unos.com/> . Click on Donate Life America and sign up to be a donor. You can even sign up in Spanish by visiting www.Donevida.org http://www.donevida.org/> .

Establish a Workplace Partnership for your company. Sign up online at the website of your local Organ Donor Network. In New York state, sign up at http://www.donatelifeny.org/> www.donatelifeny.org http://www.donatelifeny.org/> .

Spread the word. Create a campaign. As a Hispanic marketing and advertising executive, you can develop your own pro-bono creative campaigns and join forces with the local Spanish language media in your markets.

As for me, I am actively looking for a “living” kidney donor. To read more about my personal quest, visit my blog at http://kidneyforrafi.blogspot.com/ http://kidneyforrafi.blogspot.com/> .

To contact me, you can reach me at re**@********yc.com or call me at my office at 212 983 0219 or on my cell at 917 836 8151.

Thank you for reading this letter. I wish you all the best of health and much success always.

Rafael Eli
Partner/COO
Schramm Sports & Entertainment