BIDDEFORD — About 20 years ago, Nancy Cantara, 56, of Biddeford, was a seemingly healthy, active woman. She took aerobics five days a week. For fun, she and her husband Bill enjoyed hiking, skiing and other activities.

Then in 1991 Cantara went for a routine physical. Her doctor had concerns and ordered a chest X-ray. She was told she had an enlarged heart.

Five years later, doctors in Boston told her she had two good years left. Without a new heart, they said, she would die.

Although placed on the transplant list 1998, Cantara was taken off the list when breast cancer was discovered. Finally on Nov. 8, 2002, she got her new heart.

Although the going has been rough at times, and she can’t do many of the activities she once did, Cantara looks on the bright side.

“These are all borrowed years,” she said.

She said she’s extremely grateful to the organ donor and their family, who she says made her continued life possible.

“Because of their generosity, I’ve seen two kids get married and my wonderful grandkids,” said Cantara. The donor’s “gift made such a difference in one life.”

Cantara is one of the lucky ones, said Matthew Boger with the New England Organ Bank. Currently in Maine, 108 people are waiting for a life-saving organ, such as a heart, kidney, liver, lung, pancreas or intestines. That number jumps to more than 4,600 throughout New England and 113,000 in the U.S.

In addition to organs, tissue like heart valves and corneas and skin can also be donated.

To encourage people to sign up to be an organ or tissue donor upon their death, and bring awareness to the issue, on April 2 Gov. Paul LePage signed a proclamation recognizing April as Donate Life Month in Maine. Pres. Barack Obama signed a similar proclamation for the nation.

Getting as many people as possible to register as organ or tissue donors is important, said Dr. Sheila Pinette, director of the Maine Center for Disease Control. Only 1 percent of the deaths nationally allow for organs to be donated.

In 2011, she said 300 in New England died while waiting for a life-saving organ.

One donor can make a huge difference, said Pinette.

“In Maine, in 2011, 26 organ donors made it possible for 91 life saving donations,” she said.

Pinette added that some people are leery of registering as donors for fear that they won’t received adequate medical attention when they need it. They shouldn’t be afraid, she said, as doctors will still make every effort to save their life.

The goal is to get 50 percent of the population around the country to add their names to organ bank registries, said Boger. Maine’s sign up rate is very good, he said; 45 percent of the population has registered.

Almost all, 99.8 percent, who have enrolled as donors in Maine have done so through the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, said Secretary of State Charles Summers.

Around the nation, those getting or renewing their license have the option to register with their regional organ bank.

In Maine, those 16 years or older and possessing either a Maine driver’s license or state identification can also add their name to the Maine Organ Donor Registry online at the Bureau of Motor Vehicle website, said Summers. In addition, that site has a link to the New England Organ Bank where those without a license or ID can register.

One transplant recipient, 51-year-old Emily Sherwood of Dayton, helps enroll people to the organ donor registry through an organization to which she belongs and helps raise money for the New England Organ Bank.

“I’m the luckiest, luckiest person in the world,” said Sherwood. She received liver and kidney transplants in 2009 after abruptly getting sick. She was diagnosed with acute primary cirrhosis and needed a transplant immediately ”“ not once, but twice.

“I think about my two donors every day,” said Sherwood.

The shortage of organs is something “that stuck with me,” said Joe Rosario, 56, of Saco, after his own two liver transplants.

In 2004, he was diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver, and three years later had his first transplant from a live donor, his brother. Live donor transplants are attempted when possible, he said, because of the shortage of organs.

Unfortunately that transplant didn’t work, he said, but luckily another organ became available.

Rosario said he wants to make others aware of the organ bank registry and the importance of all those who are eligible signing up.

Twenty-five-year-old transplant recipient Cait Halliburton of Saco wants people to know that registering with the organ donor bank is “one of the easiest ways you could potentially help a person.”

She was born with primary sclerosing cholangitis, a disorder she didn’t know she had until she was diagnosed at 19. She received her first transplant on Oct. 11 from a her best friend, who donated of a portion of her liver. When that was failing five days later, she was so sick she made it to the top of the transplant list and earlier this week celebrated her six-month anniversary with her new liver.

Those not already enrolled with the Maine Organ Bank registry should do so, said Halliburton.

On April 12, Rep. Megan Rochelo, D-Biddeford, stood with other legislators and Secretary Summers to bring attention to organ donation and recognize April as Donate Life Month in Maine.

Rochelo has experienced both ends of the organ donor spectrum.

In his early 30s, her father, now deceased, experience kidney failure. He received a kidney transplant that reversed his blindness and a host of other issues.

Last month, Rochelo’s 36-year-old husband, Jason, died. While he was unable to donate organs, he was able to donate tissue.

Rochelo said she is grateful that her family was able to have extra time with her father because of someone else’s generosity.

That her husband’s tissues were used to help others also givers her some solace, she said.

“In a bad situation,” said Rochelo, “knowing something good is coming from it is comforting.”

For more information about organ donation or to enroll on the organ donor registry visit the website maine.gov/sos/bmv or call 626-8400.

— Staff Writer Dina Mendros can be contacted at 282-1535, Ext. 324 or dmendros@journaltribune.com.