Donate Life Texas, Zak Products to sponsor Joey Gase for Xfinity & AAA Sprint Cup races, Nov. 6-8, 2015.
Dallas-Fort Worth, TX (October 5, 2015) – The Donate Life Texas organ, eye and tissue donor registry is proud to announce its partnership with NASCAR driver, Joey Gase, for the November NASCAR race weekend at Texas Motor Speedway (TMS).
Even with his 2015 top-5 Xfinity race finish at Talladega, Gase is more than just an up-and-coming NASCAR name. Gase races for a cause that is very close to his heart – to promote organ, eye and tissue donation.
Gase was only 18 when his mother, Mary Jo, died of a brain aneurysm in 2011, and he gave consent to donate her organs and tissues. He races in her honor and is now as passionate about promoting organ, eye and tissue donation as he is about racing.
“Thanks to Zak Products and Donate Life Texas, the Texas races will be a chance to speak to a new group of motorsport fans about the importance of organ, eye and tissue donation,” says Gase. “By sharing my mother’s story, I can show others how donation can transform a terrible loss into a lifesaving gift.”
Gase’s schedule for the NASCAR Xfinity O’Reilly Auto Parts Challenge and the NASCAR Sprint Cup AAA Texas 500 race weekend includes several activities designed to inspire fans to join the Donate Life Texas donor registry. He will also have an appearance at the new Driver License MegaCenter in South Dallas to thank Texas Department of Public Safety staff for the critical role they play in donor registration through the driver license and ID application processes.
Donate Life Texas will also host a donor registration drive throughout the race weekend at TMS and Gase will drop in to sign autographs and thank those signing up. The registration drive will be staffed by Donate Life Texas volunteers, many of whom are transplant recipients or donor family members, like Gase. TMS will support the registration drive by encouraging its more than 2,000 employees to sport green Donate Life wristbands throughout the event.
“As a family member of an organ and tissue donor himself, Joey is part of a growing community of those touched by donation and transplantation,” says Suzy Miller, executive director of Donate Life Texas. “Right now, more than 13,000 Texans are on the transplant waiting list because not enough organs are being donated. Registering with Donate Life Texas makes sure a person’s decision to give the gift of life is known.”
About Donate Life Texas
The Donate Life Texas organ donor registry started in 2005 and celebrated its 7 millionth registration in January 2015, making it among the fastest growing registries in the country. The registry is supported by all three Texas organ procurement organizations, LifeGift, Southwest Transplant Alliance and Texas Organ Sharing Alliance and the ten eye and tissue banks serving the state.
Signing up is fast and easy at DonateLifeTexas.org and provides a way for individuals to make their decision to be an organ, eye and tissue donor known to the right people at the right time, automatically. It also provides legal consent for donation after death, which removes the burden of decision-making from the family during an already difficult time.
Donate Life Texas is part of the Donate Life America not-for-profit alliance of national organizations and local partners across the United States, serving as a national voice and inspiring all people to save and heal lives through organ, eye and tissue donation.
