Acworth Restaurant Makes Impact on Organ Donation Registry

Patch Staff Report

Henry’s Louisiana Grill in Acworth said Thursday that 1,119 people took “Chef Henry’s Challenge to Save a Life” and pledged to sign the Donate Life Georgia registry. By signing the registry, guests agree to designate themselves as organ donors and commit to helping save lives in Georgia.

Chef Henry Chandler, owner and executive chef at Henry’s Louisiana Grill, is dedicated to raising awareness for organ donation because he was diagnosed with liver cancer in 2007. A transplant was his only option for survival. Though no donor was immediately available, at the eleventh hour prayers were answered and the Cajun chef underwent a successful transplant surgery at Piedmont Hospital in 2008. 

“I am very pleased that so many guests took the pledge to sign the Donate Life Georgia registry," said Chandler in a news release. "They are committed to save a life like a donor saved mine. As long as I am here, I will continue to encourage people to support organ donation by registering. There are 120,000 people right now waiting for an organ donor. I am proud to support this important cause and encourage others to do the same.”

The Donate Life Georgia registry was created in 2008 to allow Georgians an easy and user-friendly means of joining the state’s registry. Their website, www.donatelifegeorgia.org, provides the opportunity to join Georgia’s organ, tissue, and eye donor registry, a confidential database of donor designations to be carried out upon death. The database is maintained at the direction of LifeLink of Georgia, a non-profit organ and tissue recovery organization and member of Donate Life Georgia.  If you already have “organ donor” on your driver’s license, you still are encouraged to join the new registry to ensure your previous designation is documented. 

Prior to the Registry, the responsibility for giving authorization for donation fell solely on the donor's family. Unfortunately, the family members were not always aware of their loved one's wishes regarding donation. The Registry eliminates any doubt that a family member may have about your intention to DONATE LIFE. In the event of your death, your family will be provided a copy of your Registry sign-up at the hospital so that your life-saving wishes can be fulfilled.

For more information on Henry’s Louisiana Grill, please visit www.chefhenrys.com or find them on Facebook.