LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- People in need of an organ can spend years waiting, but for people of color, that wait can be even longer.
Donate Life KY is working to spread that message with a traveling art exhibit created by Louisville artist, Charles Rice, creator of "ArtbyRice."
Ledger Powell was only a few years old when his dad, William Powell, received an organ donation that saved his life. Now seven years old, Ledger and his dad are helping get the message out on how to become an organ donor.
"My favorite thing to do with my Dad is just everything I want to do with him," said Ledger.
Ledger gets that chance to do anything he thinks of, because one stranger made the decision to become an organ donor, giving William a new kidney.
"I just feel overly blessed," said William.
While it changed William's life, he said it changed his whole family's too.
"I'm able to continue on with life, have a career, be a father, be a husband, in a better capacity than on dialysis three times a week for four and a half hours," said William.
Ledger and William Powell.
Ledger and William Powell's story is just one that Donate Life KY is working to spread.
The group says the impact of donating has a ripple effect. From families of recipients and donors, to doctors and nurses. All of these people are featured in the new art exhibit "Faces of Donation."
"They typically forget about the actual faces that go along with it," said Allen Gazaway, community educator for Donate Life KY.
But the impact organ donations have on everyone involved, is not the only message Donate Life KY wants to spread. They also want to educate people of color on how and what it means to become an organ donor.
"There is proof out there that transplants actually work better for those within the same ethnicity as other folks so that's just kind of the way to shorten the gap and the more and more we get registered, the quicker they can go," said Gazaway.
According to Donate Life KY, Caucasians spend around five to seven years on an organ donation list. For Black and Brown people, the time spent waiting for a new organ can be between eight to ten years.
"The more people we get registered the quicker we can get people off the list," said Gazaway.
For more information on becoming an organ donor, click here.
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