Donate Life Texas, Donor Son and NASCAR Driver Joey Gase team up for National Donate Life Month

Joey Gase’s car at Texas Motor Speedway to honor organ, eye, and tissue donors

For Media Interested in Attending, Contact:                            
Chad Carroll
Executive Director, Donate Life Texas
ccarroll@donatelifetexas.org
972-982-7472

Fort Worth, TX (April 12, 2024) —In honor of Texas’ organ, eye, and tissue donors and their families, Donate Life Texas (DLT) and NASCAR driver Joey Gase will collaborate Apr. 12-14 at Texas Motor Speedway to raise awareness about donation.

Donate Life Texas – as part of April’s National Donate Life Month – will proudly sponsor Gase’s car that he will drive in the Andy’s Frozen Custard 300 at Texas Motor Speedway on Saturday, Apr. 13. Donate Life Texas personnel and volunteers will also be on site to register any Texans desiring to do so.

“We are once again honored to partner with Joey Gase upon his return to Texas and wanted to shine a light on organ, eye, and tissue donation during April’s National Donate Life Month,” said Chad G. Carroll, Executive Director of Donate Life Texas. “Just over 10,000 Texans are awaiting a lifesaving transplant while only 60% of Texans are currently registered as a potential donor – so the need for Texans to register is still great,” he said.

Gase developed a passion for educating others on the need of organ, tissue, and eye donation after tragically losing his mother, Mary, to a sudden brain aneurysm. Gase and his family decided to donate his mother’s organs and later learned that her gift helped save and improve the lives of 66 people.
      
Gase’s car will feature two Texan donor heroes: Reid Barker, a living kidney donor whose wife, Lisa, previously received a lifesaving liver transplant; and Adam Becker, a deceased donor hero whose selfless act to register as a donor saved and improved the lives of over 70 people.

“I am extremely excited and thankful to be able to team up with Donate Life Texas to raise awareness for organ, eye, and tissue donation but most importantly to honor Reid and Adam and all of those affected by it,” said Gase. “My sister and I have been fortunate enough to be able to meet two of my mom’s recipients in person. When that happened, it made me realize the ripple effect organ donation has. My mom did not only help those two recipients and the other 64 direct receipts but also each one of those recipients family members, friends, co-workers, classmates and anyone that they meet. So yes my mom helped 66 people directly but 1,000 of people through the ripple effect. I hope this partnership this weekend doesn’t only get the public to register to be organ donors but also get them to talk about their wishes with their loved ones.”

Joey will also be at the Donate Life Texas Booth at TMS at 7:00PM on Friday and 10:30AM on Saturday and will be available for autographs and interviews.

Becoming a registered donor is easy and can have a tremendous impact. One donor can help save 8 lives and improve the lives of more than 75 people with organ, eye, and tissue donation. Most Texans say ‘yes’ at their local driver’s license office. However, signing up is also 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.

About Donate Life Texas
The Donate Life Texas organ donor registry started in 2005 and celebrated 15 million Texans’ registrations in 2024. The registry is supported by the Texas organ procurement organizations, LifeGift, Southwest Transplant Alliance and Texas Organ Sharing Alliance and the eleven 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.