The namesake of New York’s Lauren's Law brought her advocacy for organ donation to a Donate Life ceremony Wednesday at Upstate University Hospital. Seventeen-year-old Lauren Shields was just nine when she became a heart transplant recipient after a virus attacked her heart. She says that she thinks about her donor everyday and how her donor lives on through her.
"I think being in a hospital at such a young age was life-changing experience," Shields said. "It was really so important for me to share my story, tell everyone what I've been through, and share how grateful I was. I realized how sick I was in the hospital. I would not have made it through that. I would have died had it not been for my donor”
Shields says she knows her donor was a four-year-old boy. She's written to his family, but has never met them.
Lauren’s law requires people applying for or renewing a driver’s license or ID to respond to the organ donor registry section. The law was set to expire in 2020, but a bill to make it permanent is awaiting a vote in the assembly. Still, only 28 percent of New Yorkers are currently registered donors compared to the 54 percent national average. Lauren Shield’s mother, Jeanne says those statistics left their family worried that Lauren would die waiting for a transplant match.
"When we realized just how the bad numbers were in New York, it really seemed like such a hopeless situation," Shields said. "She was so critically sick and needed the transplant to come quickly. Knowing the numbers were so low was just a very scary feeling.” 
Rob Kochik with the Finger Lakes Donor Recovery Network says increasing the donor pool might be as simple as having a conversation with your loved ones about your wishes.
"I don't think anyone really understands until you have the conversation what the gift you're giving your family to let them know what your wishes are," Kochik said. "If you don't, you're really giving them the burden to make that decision on your behalf.”
Lauren Shields says she believes some people might be against registering as a donor because of myths surrounding organ donation.
“I would say to them that you're signing up and you are going to save someone's life," Shields said. "That should be enough to make them want to sign up. Your life is going to live on in someone else. That's the greatest gift anyone could give is the gift of life.”
Over 119,000 people in the United States are on the waiting list for organ transplants, and approximately twenty two people die waiting every day. Central New York is home to more than 700 of these patients. more information on organ donations can be found on donorrecovery.org.
