“Death is not extinguishing the light, but putting out the lamp because the dawn has  come.” – Rabindranath Tagore  Spreading the light of life are organ donors who prove to us that death can actually bring life, that sorrow can turn to hope, and that tragedy can become the greatest gift of all. And the people who make sure of this gift are the remarkable families of the  organ donors who carry out the wishes o  their loved ones even in the midst of tragedy and grief. These families stand tall by their noble act of altruism in coming to the rescue of their suffering fellow human beings.  MOHAN Foundation (Multi Organ Harvesting Aid Network) organised a function honouring twelve of these remarkable organ donor families at the Raj Bhavan, Chennai, on 7th June 2007. The Chief Guest was His Excellency, Shri Surjit Singh Barnala, Governor of Tamil Nadu. Dr. (Tmt). Poongothai Aladi Aruna, Hon’ble Minister for Social Welfare, Government of Tamil Nadu, Ms. Kanimozhi, Member of Parliament - Rajya Sabha, and Thiru V.K.Subburaj, Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, Government of Tamil Nadu were the Guests of Honour. Ms. C.K. Gariyali,    Principal Secretary to the Governor of Tamil Nadu was also present. Dr. Sunil Shroff, Managing Trustee, MOHAN Foundation welcomed the gathering and paid tribute to the organ donor families. The Governor presented each of the organ  donor families with a special memento – “Life….Pass it On” - from MOHAN Foundation. Each of these families is unique but a common thread of uncommon strength and fortitude binds them     together. We carry their stories in a special feature. Delivering a special address on the occasion, Thiru V.K. Subburaj said that the need    the hour was cadaver organ transplantation. One in every thousand  the numbers are on the rise. More than   lakh require a kidney transplant but only about 20,000 people have access to facilities. With the resurfacing of the trade in kidneys,  down on permission for live unrelated transplants. In fact, over the past five months permission for only 70 transplants has been given as opposed to an average of 300 previously. He said that with the eve  increasing necessity for organs, the cadaver organ donation programme needs encouragement; for instance, by facilitating organ retrieval in the11,000 cases of fatal road traffic accidents in Tamil Nadu. Ms.  amended to ensure “legal answerability” in the event of the family being unwilling to honour a person’s decision to donate his/ her organs after his/her death. One of the highlights of the evening was the support that the organ donation cause received from the dignitaries. Setting a fitting example to society were, His Excellency, Shri Surjit Singh Barnala who pledged to donate his eyes, Dr. (Tmt). Poongothai Aladi Aruna and Ms. Kanimozhi who took the organ donation pledge and signed special organ donor pledge cards. The organ donor pledge cards were handed over to them by Ms. Revathy, actor/director and social activist. Ms. Revathy was in fact the recipient of the first Organ Donor card in 1997 at Sri Ramachandra Medical College and Research Institute. This being a special occasion, MOHAN Foundation brought out two extremely readable and useful books for the public  and for patients. The first was a book in Tamil on Organ Donation by Dr. N. Ramakrishnan, Director, Critical Care Services, Apollo Hospitals, Chennai, and the second was a book on Diet for Kidney Failure an  Transplant Patients by Rajeswari Ramachandran, Dietitian, Patient Support Group, MOHAN Foundation. The 24th edition of the “Indian T r a n s p l a n t Newsletter” was also released on the occasion. This newsletter is the only one of its kind in India and is, in fact, the voice of the cadaver transplantation programme in India. The occasion brought to the forefront the i n v a l u a b l e contribution of the organ donor families and served to remind us of the good one can do if only   one has the will to do so. We salute the organ donors of Chennai and their families.