INDIANAPOLIS — An IndyCar driver is raising awareness around the need for organ and tissue donors while honoring those who have saved lives through organ donation.
Indianapolis 500 veteran, Pippa Mann, visited Eskenazi Health on Thursday morning with officials from the Indiana Donor Network and Donate Life Indiana.
According to the Indiana Donor Network, more than 114,000 men, women, and children are currently waiting for a lifesaving organ transplant nationwide.
The agency says one donor can save up to eight lives through organ donation and heal up to 75 people through tissue and cornea donation.
"But hopefully with organ donation and transplantation - that ability to go on to save lives and heal lives with tissue donation - hopefully, that not only saves those lives, and helps heal those people, but also helps the family going through the grief find some solace after losing a loved one," Mann said. "By knowing their loved one was a hero."
Mann will drive the number 39, "Driven to Save Lives" Clauson-Marshall Racing Chevrolet, in the 2019 Indianapolis 500. Driven to Save Lives is a campaign to raise awareness around organ donation.
Mann is a former teammate of IndyCar driver, and Noblesville native, Bryan Clauson. Clauson died in a racing accident in 2016, but he saved five lives because he was a registered donor.
