Almost 3,000 people worldwide took part in the Corza Medical Organ Donation Run 2023. The face-to-face run took place on April 25th in Munich’s Westpark. Members of the Bavarian university hospitals were also part of the party.
The Corza Medical organ donation run took place for the twelfth time on the initiative of the German Society for Surgery as part of the annual DCK congress. The event was an “overwhelming success”, according to one press release the organizer. A total of 850 people registered for the run, including 130 employees of the LMU Clinic Munich and more than 200 employees Klinikum Rechts der Isar of the Technical University of Munich.
850 runners were registered
Sports moderator and television producer Jörg Wontorra hosted the event. The starting gun was fired shortly after six o’clock in the evening. All runners had a common goal in mind: to raise public awareness of organ donation. Each participant could choose between walking (2.5 km or 5 km) and running (2.5 km, 5 km or 10 km). In addition to the face-to-face run, virtual participation using the running app was also possible until April 30th.
Among the participants were those who were directly affected, such as Sandra Zumpfe from Munich: “My own story motivates me above all. I was given a heart and a kidney and I want to show people how valuable organ donation is and what a beautiful life you can have afterwards.”
One donor saves up to eight lives
8,700 patients are currently waiting for a donor organ. Many of them in vain: up to three people who are on the waiting lists die every day. “An organ donor can save up to eight lives,” says Prof. Markus Guba, Head of the Visceral Transplantation and Liver Surgery Section of the Clinic for General, Visceral and Transplantation Surgery at the LMU Klinikum. “Regardless of what you decide, you should take a self-determined attitude towards organ donation during your lifetime and not leave this difficult decision to others. The extended opt-out solution practiced in most other European countries offers the opportunity to do this.”
The Corza Medical organ donation run is not only intended to draw public attention to this important topic, but also has a charitable character. Every year, the organizers donate part of the entry fees and the financial surplus to social organizations in the field of organ transplantation. At the moment, the exact sum of the donations that were received through the run this year is still being determined. Last year it was 18,000 euros.