[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 29, Number 16 (Monday, April 26, 1993)]
[Pages 661-662]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 6548--Nancy Moore Thurmond National Organ and Tissue Donor 
Awareness Week, 1993

 April 23, 1993

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    On April 14, 1993, the promising life of Nancy Moore Thurmond was 
taken in an auto accident. In the heartbreaking moments after her death, 
Nancy's parents, Senator Strom Thurmond and his wife Nancy, made the 
decision that their daughter's organs should be donated to others. 
Through this selfless act, the Thurmonds redeemed the promise of Nancy 
Moore Thurmond's youth and helped to sustain the lives of other human 
beings. In memory of Nancy, we commit ourselves this week to 
understanding what the donation of organs can mean.
    In the history of medicine, few advances have been more awe-
inspiring than successful organ and tissue transplants. In recent years 
we have seen the miracle of terminally ill patients receiving a second 
chance at life with a new heart, liver, lung, or kidney. We have seen 
children with leukemia regain their health through bone marrow 
transplants; we have witnessed the restoration of sight to the blind 
through new corneas; and we have seen thousands of Americans resuming 
normal lives after receiving a transplanted organ or tissue. But many 
others still wait, and many die waiting for a suitable organ to become 
available.
    Today there are more than 30,000 patients on the national transplant 
waiting list, and a new patient is added to the list every 20 minutes. 
The need for organs far surpasses the number donated each year. We must 
increase public awareness of the successes of transplantation and the 
urgent need for increased donation. The American public needs to know 
that by completing an organ donor card and carrying it, and by making 
their families aware of their wishes to donate, they may give the gift 
of life to others.
    Americans are a caring and giving people. Many Americans who have 
lost their loved ones in tragic accidents have found some measure of 
comfort in knowing that despite their loss, others may live. The 
Thurmond family can take solace in the knowledge that their beautiful 
daughter, Nancy Moore Thurmond, gave life to others.
    To honor Nancy Moore Thurmond, and to focus public attention on the 
desperate need for organ donors, the Congress, by Senate Joint 
Resolution 66, has designated the week beginning April 18, 1993, as 
``Nancy Moore Thurmond National Organ and Tissue Donor Awareness Week'' 
and has authorized and requested the President to issue a proclamation 
in observance of this week.
    Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United 
States of America, do hereby proclaim the week of April 18 through April 
24, 1993, as Nancy Moore Thurmond National Organ and Tissue Donor 
Awareness Week. I urge all health care professionals, educators, the 
media, public and private organizations concerned with organ donation 
and transplantation, and all Americans to join me in supporting this 
humanitarian action. In the memory of their loved

[[Page 662]]

ones, and in the life they have shared with others, Nancy Thurmond and 
all other organ donors will live on.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-third 
day of April, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-three, 
and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred 
and seventeenth.
                                            William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 4:28 p.m., April 23, 
1993]

Note: This proclamation will be published in the Federal Register on 
April 27.