On September 24th, I joined Vice-President Gore at the White House to unveil a national initiative encouraging organ donation. President Clinton had just signed into law the Organ Donor Leave Act, legislation which I had sponsored in the Congress along with Senator Daniel Akaka (D-HI).

The Organ Donor Leave Act acknowledges and encourages living organ donation by federal employees, providing 30 days of paid leave time in which to recuperate. We also hope that federal leadership in this area will serve as an example to the private sector.

As we stood there together at the White House, I thought about the 65,000 Americans on the nation's organ donor waiting list. "They wait," I said to myself. "They mark every hour of every day, not knowing whether they will live or die."

Almost five thousand Americans died last year because no suitable organ donor could be found in time. That is why living organ donation and incentive measures like the Organ Donor Leave Act are so important.

Almost 2,400 of those waiting for an organ transplant live in my home state of Maryland. I should also note that three-quarters of the 1700 Marylanders who desperately need a donated kidney are African Americans.

Nearly one-half of all the Americans on transplant waiting lists are minorities; but we constitute only one-quarter of the nation's organ donors. Two factors contribute to this racial imbalance.

Our relatively high incidence of hypertension, diabetes and heart disease makes it more likely that we will need an organ transplant. Meanwhile, too few African Americans are choosing to become organ donors, resulting in greater difficulty for those who are waiting for a donated organ.

At our current level of medical science, racial compatibility remains a significant predictor of successful organ donation. Although there are exceptions to those statistics, African Americans must rely largely upon ourselves for the organ transplants our families, friends and neighbors will need to survive.

We, and those we love, may be adding our own names to the organ transplant waiting list some day. That is why Ms. Rhonda DeLaremore's information about organ donation is so important.

She is a gentle, smiling woman who works with the Transplant Resource Center of Maryland (410-242-7000), patiently outlining the importance of organ donation to anyone who requests her advice.

"I just give people the facts, ask them to discuss donation with their families and let them make their own decision about checking the organ donor box on their driver's license form," Ms. DeLaremore explains.

We should listen closely to Rhonda DeLaremore's message. She is alive to give us the facts about organ donation because she received a kidney from Margie Stickles, one of her co-workers. Today, both of these wonderful women are well, working hard to save the lives of others.

As African Americans, we have less reason to trust the medical system than other groups. The survival of someone we love may depend, however, on more of us deciding to check that organ donor box on our drivers' license application form.

"This is not about black and white," declares Rhonda DeLaremore - kidney recipient and African American mother of two. "Americans are one people where the struggle to preserve life is concerned."

We can trust people like Rhonda DeLaremore and Margie Stickles, R.N., the white nurse who gave Ms. DeLaremore the greatest gift possible. Life speaking to life, they have overcome the odds by the content of their character.