National Donor Day
by yrnej | created - 15 Sep 2017 | updated - 03 Feb 2018 | PublicNational Donor Day, February 14th, celebrates those heroes who have unselfishly donated blood, tissues and organs to help better or save the lives of others. The best way to celebrate is to donate yourself - you can walk into any Red Cross blood bank to help - or get tested to see if you are a match for someone who needs help. For more information you can visit the website for UNOS (United Network for Organ Sharing), the administrator for the US Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, at https://transplantliving.org
Which of these actors who have had an organ transplant (OR have made donations themselves) is the most surprising?
Discuss the list here
1. Gary Coleman
Actor | Diff'rent Strokes
Without a doubt Gary Coleman was THE child TV star of the late 1970s and early 1980s. A refreshingly confident little tyke with sparkling dark, saucer-like eyes and an ingratiating, take-on-anyone burst of personality, the boy charmed the pants right off of TV viewers the minute he was glimpsed in ...
Received two kidney transplants in the early 80s
2. Selena Gomez
Actress | Spring Breakers
Actress and singer Selena Gomez was born on July 22, 1992 in Grand Prairie, Texas. She is the daughter of Mandy Teefey and Ricardo Gomez. Her mother is of part Italian ancestry, and her father is of Mexican descent. She was named after Tejano singer Selena, who died in 1995.
Her first acting role ...
Received kidney transplant in 2017
3. Larry Hagman
Actor | Dallas
The son of a legendary actress (Mary Martin) and a district attorney, Larry Martin Hagman was born on September 21, 1931 in Fort Worth, Texas. After his parents' divorce, he moved to Los Angeles, California to live with his grandmother. When he was 12, his grandmother died and he moved back to his ...
Received a liver transplant in 1995
4. Jon-Erik Hexum
Actor | Voyagers!
In the early 1980s, this ruggedly handsome young American actor of Norwegian parentage was seen as the "next big thing", and then suddenly he was dead from an accident via a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
The son of Thorleif Hexum (born in Norway) and Gretha Paulsen (born in Minnesota), Jon-Erik ...
Made heart, kidneys, corneas and skin transplants in 1984
5. Ken Howard
Actor | Rambo
Ken Howard was elected the National President of The Screen Actors Guild on September 24, 2009. He was a working member of SAG for over forty years. The Tony and two-time Emmy Award-winning actor, most recently received an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie ...
Received a kidney transplant in 2000
6. Sarah Hyland
Actress | Vampire Academy
Sarah Hyland was born in New York City to actors Melissa D. Canaday and Edward James Hyland. She began in the business at the age of 4 with commercial work and voice overs. Her first film was Private Parts (1997). She then moved on to The Object of My Affection (1998) and then spent time on Another...
Received a kidney transplant in 2012
7. George Lopez
Producer | George Lopez
George Lopez was born on April 23, 1961, in Mission Hills, Los Angeles, California, the son of Frieda and Anatasio Lopez, a migrant worker. He is of Mestizo Mexican descent. He was deserted by his father when he was two months old and by his mother when he was 10 years old, but was raised by his ...
Received a kidney transplant in 2005
8. Tracy Morgan
Actor | 30 Rock
Tracy Morgan is an African-American comedian and actor from New York City who is known for playing Tracy Jordan from 30 Rock, Luiz from the Blue Sky Studios Rio franchise, Tray Barker from The Last O.G. and several roles on Saturday Night Live. He also was in Scoob, Fist Fight, G-Force, The ...
Received a kidney transplant in 2011
9. Jim Nabors
Actor | Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.
Tall, spade-jawed, hopelessly genial balladeer/actor Jim Nabors was born in James Thurston Nabors on June 12, 1930 in Sylacauga, Alabama and raised there, graduating from the University of Alabama. A typing clerk at the United Nations in his salad days, he eventually moved to Los Angeles, ...
Received a liver transplant in 1994
10. Jerry Orbach
Actor | Law & Order
Jerry Orbach was born in the Bronx, New York, the only child of Leon Orbach, a former vaudevillian actor, was a German Jewish immigrant, who was born in Hamburg, Germany, and Emily (nee Olexy), a radio singer, was born in Pennsylvania to immigrant Polish-Lithuanian Roman Catholic parents, Alexander...
Made cornea transplants in 2004
11. Mandy Patinkin
Actor | Homeland
Mandy Patinkin was born Mandel Bruce Patinkin in Chicago, Illinois, to Doris "Doralee" (Sinton), a homemaker and cookbook writer, and Lester Patinkin, who operated two scrap metal plants. He is of Russian Jewish and Latvian Jewish descent. Growing up, he began singing in synagogue choirs at the age...
Received cornea transplants in 1997 and 1998
12. Natasha Richardson
Actress | The Parent Trap
Natasha Jane Richardson was born in Marylebone, London, England, to director and producer Tony Richardson and actress Vanessa Redgrave. She was the sister of actress Joely Richardson, the niece of actors Corin Redgrave and Lynn Redgrave, and the granddaughter of actors Michael Redgrave and Rachel ...
Made heart, liver and kidney transplants in 2009
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