April 26, 2005 - A woman spoke of the six lives saved by her only daughter's organs. A man said a donated heart gave him a `second chance at life.' Another woman waits for the double-lung transplant that will let her fulfill her dreams.

All three shared their powerful, personal stories yesterday to raise awareness in the face of a national organ-donor shortage.

As a child with bronchiectasis, Sheila Tines, 37, was constantly in hospitals and never went to school because she was too sick.

Today, Tines lives on an oxygen tank and is among 500 Bay Staters waiting for an organ transplant. She dreams of the day she can return to work, adopt a child and go on a honeymoon.

While she waits for a double-lung donation - and it's been several years - Tines can't go more than two hours from Boston.

`When you're waiting for a transplant, your life is truly put on hold,'the Lowell woman told a packed auditorium at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Dr. Fredric Frigoletto, 72, was among 3,500 people in line for a new heart in 2003. Five-hundred died while waiting, he said.

`I'm here today because a fellow human being and his or her family made the generous and difficult decision regarding organ donation,' said Frigoletto, who waited five months for a heart.

Jane Holtz's 35-year-old daughter, Keren, was declared brain dead after she was hit by a drunken driver while riding her bike in 1997. Holtz, who lives on Cape Cod, said the family never discussed organ donation with Keren, but `consent' was their immediate reaction.

A couple weeks later, the organ bank sent the family a letter telling them that six people who would have died were given a `new lease on life' because of Keren's organs. Two others regained their eyesight.

`Collectively, these six people had nine children who were spared the premature death of their mother or father,' Holtz said.