Eight solid organs recovered after death, the heart, liver, two kidneys, two lungs, pancreas, and intestines, sit alongside donated tissues such as corneas, skin, bone, heart valves, tendons, ligaments, cartilage, and blood vessels. Living donors contribute one kidney, a liver lobe, a lung lobe, or bone marrow and peripheral blood stem cells.
What follows covers each gift category, how living and deceased donation differ, who qualifies, and the exact steps to register in the United States so you can decide with facts rather than guesswork.
The Two Broad Categories of Donation: Organs and Tissues
Solid organs are single, vital structures that keep a body running: the heart, liver, kidneys, lungs, pancreas, and intestines. Each must be recovered while blood and oxygen still flow, which is why deceased organ donation depends on tight timing, careful transport, and a recipient already prepared in the operating room.
Tissues work differently. Corneas, skin, bone, tendons, ligaments, cartilage, heart valves, and blood vessels are structural or cellular materials that stay usable for hours after circulation stops. Skin grafts for burn survivors, tendon repairs for injured athletes, and sight-restoring cornea transplants all depend on this wider window.
Bone marrow and peripheral blood stem cells sit in a third category. Living donors typically give these cells, and they are central to treating blood cancers such as leukemia and lymphoma, where a transplant replaces a recipient’s diseased immune system.
Tissues outnumber organs in availability for one simple reason: dozens of recipients can be helped from a single tissue donor, while a deceased donor can typically provide eight solid organs at most.
Why the distinction matters for your decision
Knowing the difference changes how a person thinks about signing up. Registering as a donor covers both categories by default in most U.S. states, but you can often specify organ-only or tissue-only if you prefer. Understanding what each category actually provides helps you make that choice with confidence rather than guesswork.
Solid Organs Recovered After Death
Eight solid organs are routinely recovered from deceased donors: the heart, liver, two kidneys, two lungs, pancreas, and intestines. Together these represent the upper limit of what a single person can give after death, and each one is matched to a recipient through the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, which operates under federal contract and coordinates with United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS).
Brain death is the most common pathway for deceased donation. Once two physicians independently confirm that all brain function has ceased and the circumstances meet legal criteria, organ recovery proceeds while the body is maintained on mechanical support. Donation after cardiac death covers cases where recovery begins only after circulation has stopped naturally.
The liver can be split between two recipients, often an adult and a child, which effectively raises the number of lives saved from a single donor. Kidneys and lungs are recovered in pairs, so two kidneys and two lungs count as four separate gifts. Pancreas and intestine donations are less common but still possible when circumstances allow.
What the recovery process actually involves
Organ recovery is a sterile surgical procedure performed by a transplant team in an operating room. The body is treated with respect throughout, and standard funeral arrangements, including an open-casket viewing, remain possible afterward. Visible changes are minimal, which counters one of the most persistent misconceptions about donation.
Tissues Recovered After Death
Corneas, skin, bone, heart valves, tendons, ligaments, cartilage, and blood vessels form the main tissue list recovered after death. Each has its own surgical use, and the list keeps growing as research expands what can be preserved and transplanted.
Corneas restore sight to people with damaged or diseased eye surfaces. Skin grafts save burn survivors whose own skin cannot regenerate fast enough to close large wounds. Bone and tendon grafts rebuild joints, repair fractures that won’t heal, and reconstruct ligaments after orthopedic injuries. Heart valves replace damaged ones in children born with congenital defects and in adults facing valve failure. Donor blood vessels are used in cardiac bypass surgery and limb-saving vascular repairs.
Tissue recovery has a much wider time window than organ recovery, often up to 24 hours after death. That window is why tissue donation remains possible even when the circumstances of death prevent solid organ donation, and why hospitals and procurement organizations ask about tissue consent separately in some cases.
The scale of a single tissue donor
One tissue donor can enhance the lives of dozens of people. A single donor’s skin may provide grafts for several burn patients. Bone from one donor can be shaped into dozens of grafts for spinal fusion, dental surgery, and trauma repair. This is the scale at which tissue donation quietly transforms medicine, and it stands as one of the strongest reasons to register even when organ donation is not possible for you.
What Living Donors Can Give
Living donation covers four main options: one kidney, a lobe of the liver, a lobe of a lung, and bone marrow or peripheral blood stem cells. Living kidney donation is by far the most common, because most healthy adults function normally with a single kidney and the surgical risks, while real, are well understood.
The liver’s ability to regenerate makes living liver donation possible in a way no other organ allows. Both donor and recipient grow a complete organ from the shared lobe within weeks. Bone marrow and peripheral blood stem cell donation involve a different process, often resembling a long blood draw or a minor surgical harvest, and are coordinated through national registries like Be the Match, which operates with support from the Health Resources and Services Administration.
| Living Gift | What Is Given | Who Typically Receives |
|---|---|---|
| Kidney | One whole kidney | Someone with end-stage kidney disease, often a family member or matched stranger |
| Liver lobe | A section that regrows fully in both donor and recipient | Often a child or small adult, frequently a relative |
| Lung lobe | A single lobe from one lung | Usually a family member with severe lung disease |
| Bone marrow or PBSC | Blood-forming cells | Patients with leukemia, lymphoma, or other blood disorders |
Who becomes a living donor
Family members are the most common living donors, but friends, altruistic strangers, and paired-exchange participants also donate. Paired exchanges solve the problem of incompatible blood types: your kidney goes to a stranger whose loved one gives a kidney to you, often arranged through the OPTN network. The American Red Cross also supports blood and plasma donation, a different but related way to help patients in need.
Eligibility, Matching, and Common Misconceptions
Age alone does not disqualify anyone from donation. Donors have successfully contributed organs and tissues well into their seventies and beyond. The deciding factors are the condition of each organ or tissue at the time of recovery and the donor’s medical history, both of which the procurement team evaluates, not your DMV check-in form.
Many chronic illnesses rule out specific organs but not others. A person with a heart condition can still donate lungs, kidneys, liver, or tissues. Cancer that has spread is a general rule-out, but some cancers of the central nervous system do not prevent donation. Only the medical team at the time of donation decides what can be used, which gives you a strong practical reason to register even when you assume you’re ineligible.
Matching is coordinated by the national organ-sharing network and considers blood type, body size, tissue compatibility, medical urgency, and time on the waiting list. For kidneys, waiting time can stretch years, which is why living donation has such a large impact: it shortens that wait dramatically for the recipient.
Three myths that still deter sign-ups
- Funeral myths persist because old habits die hard. Open-casket funerals remain possible after both organ and tissue recovery, and the body is reconstructed and dressed in the usual way.
- Rescue priority is unaffected by donor registration. Emergency physicians are not involved in transplant decisions, so saving your life is always the first priority, and donation only becomes an option after death has been declared.
- Age and illness rarely block registration. The registration form itself almost never refuses anyone, evaluation happens at the time of donation, and surprises happen regularly in both directions.
The Reach of a Single Donor and How to Register
One deceased organ donor can save up to eight lives, and the same donor’s tissue gifts can enhance dozens more. That single figure, eight lives plus dozens more, is why registration has such an outsized impact relative to the small effort it takes.
Registration in the United States is free and reversible. Your state’s DMV office often offers registration when you renew a license. The national registry at organdonor.gov lets you sign up online in minutes, specify organ-only, tissue-only, or both, and update your choice at any time. Donate Life America maintains the broader public-facing network that connects registration to state records and to the OPTN matching system.
Tell your family after you sign up. Hospitals confirm consent with the next of kin regardless of registry status, and a clear conversation with even one relative removes the most common barrier to donation actually happening.
Your concrete next step
Sign up online today, then have a single conversation with the relative most likely to be contacted. That two-step sequence, register and tell someone, is the highest-leverage action you can take on this topic.
The Bottom Line
Registration is one of the few medical decisions you can make that directly saves or transforms other lives, and the list of organs and tissues that can be donated is far longer than most people expect. Signing up covers you across both categories by default, age and most medical conditions are not barriers, and the same registry that takes a minute to fill out can turn into eight saved lives plus dozens more improved ones.
FAQ
Which organs can be donated while still alive?
Living donors can give one kidney, a lobe of the liver, a lobe of a lung, and bone marrow or peripheral blood stem cells. The kidney is the most common living gift, while liver lobe donation works because the liver regenerates in both donor and recipient.
What tissues can be recovered after death?
Tissue donation types recoverable after death include corneas, skin, bone, heart valves, tendons, ligaments, cartilage, and blood vessels. These can be recovered up to 24 hours after circulation stops, much later than solid organs.
How many lives can one organ donor save?
Up to eight lives can be saved by one deceased organ donor through solid organ donation, while tissue donation from the same person often enhances dozens more.
Can you donate a partial liver to a family member?
Yes. Living liver donation uses a lobe of the donor’s liver, and both the donor’s and recipient’s remaining portions regenerate into full-sized organs within weeks.
What disqualifies someone from being an organ donor?
Very little rules you out permanently. Active widespread infection or certain metastatic cancers may prevent donation of specific organs, but only the medical team at the time of donation decides what can be used. Age and most chronic conditions do not automatically disqualify anyone.
Is there an age limit for organ and tissue donation?
No fixed age limit exists. Successful donations have come from donors well into their seventies and beyond. Registration itself rarely refuses anyone; evaluation happens later, when the medical team reviews each organ and tissue individually.
