Nearly seven million Californians have registered to become organ and tissue donors. It's the fourth anniversary of the DMV's involvement in the effort.
People who come to the DMV to apply for a driver's license or ID card can sign up to become an organ donor. Statewide, only about one out of four applicants do so.
Thankfully for Michael McCrerey, a man in Chula Vista signed up a few years ago. When the man died of a brain aneurism, McCrerey got his liver. McCrerey was on death's door at the time.
"Palliative care and hospice was in my living room," McCrerey recalled. "I was in a hospital bed, had been told not to go home from the hospital because I probably would die. And I said, that's where I'd prefer to die, at home."
Last year, 95 San Diegans died waiting for a donated organ. More than 1,500 county residents are on the waiting list.
