Connected For Life: Watch it here on 7online!

NEW YORK -- Every 13 hours someone in New York dies waiting for an organ and nationally every 10 minutes another name is added to the waiting list.

WABC-TV, in connection with NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, is inviting viewers to answer the call to be an organ donor through our half-hour special "Connected for Life".

Hosted by Eyewitness News anchor Liz Cho, the program examines why the New York metro area lags so far behind the rest of the country when it comes to organ donation despite being home to the busiest transplant hospital in the nation.

April is National Organ Donor Month. What better time for yourself to be a donor? There are several ways for you to sign up:

• Donate Life America
• New York Organ Donor Network
• Donate Life New Jersey
• Donate Life Connecticut

During the special, we'll meet area residents whose lives are forever changed including Baby Aiden, an 18-month-old from New Jersey waiting for a new heart. We'll also meet the family of a 24-year-old resident of Bergenfield, N.J., who mourns its son's recent passing in a car accident, but watches as his organs give a second chance to others -- including a family friend who coached him in Little League.

You can watch the special right here on 7online, in the video window above. In it, we learn about the importance of living donors and hear from a father who gave his toddler son part of his liver. We meet a Long Island resident who gets the gift of life when a friend steps up to provide a kidney after her options run out. We're with them on the day of the surgery and on their road to recovery weeks later.

Experts featured include physicians and surgeons at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, the president of the New York Organ Donor Network and numerous transplant recipients from our area.

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