Mark Taylor, a first-year graduate student in economics, is concerned about the low rate of participation in organ donation among students.
For this reason, he has decided to present the film “D Tour” as part of a service project to raise awareness about the benefits of donating organs.
The film “D Tour” follows the story of Pat Spurgeon, the drummer for the indie rock band Rogue Wave. Spurgeon was born with only one kidney, which failed, leaving him dependent on an organ donation to survive. It features the challenges of his search for a matching kidney while trying to follow his dream of going on tour with his band. This dream, however, becomes complicated with his constant need of dialysis treatment for his failing kidney, which becomes such a part of his life on tour that it earns the nickname the D Tour.
College students could qualify for organ donation without even knowing it, Taylor said. The registry contains about 100,000 people, he said.
About 18 people die on the organ transplant waiting list a day, according to www.kidney.org.
Taylor said he hopes that showing this film will help students better understand the effects of organ donation and that showing “D Tour” could help boost the number of organ-donor students.