 A CHARITY STORY
For every name associated with a charity golf tournament there is a worthy story. Many have died of a disease for which there is no cure so friends, family and researchers organize a charity golf outing, turn it into an annual event and put in a lot of good work to raise money for a worthy cause.
Steve Eggert's story is different. Eggert actually saved four lives and improved the lives of many others in his passing. So now the Steve Eggert Memorial Golf Tournament raises money for LifeLink of Georgia, the non-profit, organization that coordinates organ and tissue recoveries in Georgia, and The LifeLink Legacy Fund, the philanthropic division which supports ongoing organ recovery and transplantation activities of LifeLink Foundation.
The tournament was created after the death of its namesake and an avid golfer. Steve's final wish to be an organ and tissue donor resulted in four lives saved; his kidney, liver, pancreas, and heart were recovered for transplantation and his tissue greatly improved the lives of others.
The ninth annual Steve Eggert Memorial Golf Tournament will be held at Bear's Best Golf Course in Suwanee on August 7.
"Steve enjoyed golf and we knew this would be a wonderful way to honor his memory," says Heather Barry, a tournament committee member and Steve's cousin. The tournament also promotes the dire need for organ and tissue donors and encourages Georgians to designate their wishes to be an organ and tissue donor.
More than 100,000 people in the United States including more than 2,800 Georgians await a life-saving organ transplant. Thousands more wait for tissue transplants which help burn victims heal, prevent amputation, replace bone tissue lost to cancer, infection and injury, restore heart function through heart valve transplants and restore sight with donated corneas.
The LifeLink Legacy Fund develops philanthropic resources to support the ongoing organ recovery and transplantation activities of LifeLink Foundation. Last year, The Legacy Fund provided more than $1.3 million in donated medical care to patients in need. Philanthropic support also allowed ground breaking organ rejection research and new protocols to reduce extended wait times for patients. The Legacy Fund also supported research of sensitization issues, creating transplantation opportunities for patients who would have otherwise been deemed unacceptable for surgery.
To participate in the ninth annual Steve Eggert Memorial Golf Tournament visit http://eggert.golfreg.com. To learn more about organ and tissue donation visit www.lifelinkfound.org/ga or contact LifeLink's Public Affairs Department at 770.225-5465. To designate your decision to be an organ, tissue and eye donor sign-up on Donate Life Georgia's Organ and Tissue Donor Registry at www.donatelifegeorgia.org.
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