When Amber Walker was 5 years old, her parents started making arrangements for her funeral.

She had been sick since birth, but it took doctors five years to figure out her liver had never worked. When they finally discovered the non-functioning organ, they told Walker and her family she needed an immediate transplant. Without one, she had no more than two weeks to live.

After 10 days on the liver donor list at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Walker’s prognosis looked bleak.

“My parents were preparing for me to die,” she said.

On Day 11, Walker’s mom received a call from the doctor. A 5-year-old girl, who had been born without the left side of her brain, had just passed away.

“She was two weeks older than me. Her name was Nicole,” said Walker.

Nicole’s blood type matched Walker’s. If Walker and her mom could make it from Florida, where they were living at the time, to Wisconsin in less than 24 hours – the preservation time of most organs – Walker could have Nicole’s liver.

Almost 16 years later, Walker, a fourth-year University student from Woodbine, is healthy and an advocate for organ donation, especially this month, which is designated as National Donate Life Month.

Terri Medina, of LifeLink of Georgia, said stories such as Walker’s are “powerful” and the best way to encourage organ donation.

“The majority (of volunteers) are transplant recipients and want to give back,” she said.

Some people choose not to be organ donors because of reports that potential donors do not receive the same medical care as non-donors.

“When I got my driver’s license, I decided not to be (an organ donor) because one of my friend’s dad is a firefighter, and he said if you’re an organ donor doctors don’t try as hard to save you,” said Justin Bannister, a sophomore from Villa Rica. “If I’m in an accident, I want to be saved.”

Anti-organ donation organizations cite this compromised care as a main reason not to be a donor.

LifeLink insists that doctors’ first priority is to save patients regardless of whether they are donors.

Pro and anti-organ donation organizations also debate what constitutes a “brain death,” which is the criteria for a donation to take place.

A brain death occurs when a person has lost all brain function. The person can be kept alive by a ventilator, but will die once taken off the machine, according to the LifeLink Web site.

However, in his book, “The Nasty Side of Organ Transplanting,” Norm Barber said brain death tests are often faulty and can actually kill a patient who might have recovered.

The two sides also disagree about damage to the donor’s body, with supporters contending donors’ bodies are respected and remain suitable for regular funeral services, including open caskets.

Anti-donation organizations say the bodies are disfigured, especially when tissue, bone and cornea are taken.

The only thing the groups agree on is the need for people to relay to family members their personal wishes, such as driving licenses, donor cards and even wills can be contested, with little time for court involvement when considering an organ transplant.

“People our age don’t think about their own mortality,” Walker said. “(But) if people don’t think about the issue and make a decision, someone else makes (it) for them. It’s a taboo subject, but it’s a natural part of life.”