I’m blogging today’s 20 Things in 20 Days bonus clue because there’s something important I’d like to discuss with you.
Clue #16 today mentioned Helicopter Pilot — the girls’ favorite band in Twenty Boy Summer — and the band’s drummer, Scotty O. Scotty is my “baby” brother in real life. I say “baby” because although he’s 25 now, I remember when my parents first told us Mom was pregnant (my other brother and I thought all the secrets and funny looks meant that we were getting a swimming pool).
After a long wait of 6 months, which is like 20 years in kid-time, the big day arrived, and Mom and Dad brought Scotty home and put him in my arms. I remember that day, too. I held him and decided in an instant that despite earlier predictions, getting a baby brother was way better than getting a swimming pool.
Just like his Twenty Boy Summer cameo implies, Scotty later became a beat-droppin’, foot-stompin’, funk-tastic drummer. But that’s not the only true trait represented in the book — Scott is also a liver transplant recipient. He’s alive today because of one family’s generous decision to donate organs and tissues more than 20 years ago.
Without his liver transplant, Scott would never have drummed for HP. He wouldn’t have a cameo appearance in his sister’s debut novel. He wouldn’t do any of the things he’s done in his teens and twenties because he wouldn’t have seen those years. Without the transplant, Scott would have died before his 5th birthday.
My family was fortunate that Scott got a second chance through the gift of life, but not everyone gets a second chance. Today, more than 100,000 people in the United States alone are waiting for lifesaving organ transplants, and many of them will die on that waiting list. In fact, over the 20-day course of our 20 Things Scavenger Hunt, 380 people will have died waiting for an organ transplant. I don’t know how big your school or office is, but 380 people was the size of my entire high school graduating class.
So for today’s bonus scavenger hunt activity, I’m asking everyone to learn a little something about donation and discuss it with your family. Whether or not you decide to become a donor when it’s your time to leave this world, it’s important to make an informed choice, and to share your wishes — whatever those wishes are — with your family. For Scotty, for me, and most importantly, for all of those people still waiting for a transplant, please check out some of the resources below and leave a comment here letting us know that you had the donation discussion with your loved ones. 7 points.
Organ & Tissue Donation Resources
- Donate Life America
- The Mayo Clinic’s 10 Donation Myths
- United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS)
- The National Donor Memorial
P.S. It’s been 25 years. I still think Scotty is better than a swimming pool. 
Posted by Sarah Ockler 
“Wait… you’re doing a photos project? See, there’s your problem, Sar. You guys have too many damn projects. 
“At first I thought it was like, super girly. I so wasn’t into it, especially when I saw that it was a Teen People ‘Hot List’ pick—man. But I really wanted to finish it, so I just sat down and read like another 200 pages. And out of nowhere, I was like, aww man, this is really cute, and suddenly I’m getting all emotional… I think I might need a Kleenex or some shit. So the next day, I was like, fuck it, my girlfriend isn’t coming over until later, so I got those Kleenex and a bag of Oreos and settled in for some ‘me time.’ I finished the whole book. And the Oreos. And I’m like, vampires, humans, cool, cool. I really liked it. I told my friend, dude, if you like vampire books, check it out. Now I have to get the next one.”
