Local heart transplant recipient throws first pitch at the Cove

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- The South Bend Silver Hawks hosted "Donate Life Night" at Coveleski Stadium Friday night to raise awareness about the need for more organ and tissue donors. 

The special event was sponsored by (IOPO) Indiana Organ Procurement Organization.

Before the game the Silver Hawks honored Barrett Younghans, a 19-year-old Goshen man who received a life saving heart transplant on Feb. 12. Younghans, threw the first pitch of the night.

Younghans said, he got ill in 2009 and had to wait two years before a heart transplant recipient was found.

According to the Indiana Organ Procurement Organization 114,00 people in the U.S. are waiting for a life-saving organ transplant, including 1,422 people in Indiana.

To become an organ donor visit your local (BMV) Bureau of Motor Vehicles or register on line here.