Alexa Kersting died waiting for a lung transplant.

Kersting, a 14-year-old West Fargo girl who died in 2004, was at the top of the organ transplant list in the region when she died, her mother, Monica, said on Tuesday. But it wasn't enough.

Her parents, Monica and Loren, have become advocates for organ donation since then, speaking in the state and nationally about the need for more people to become organ donors. Alexa was the inspiration behind North Dakota's new online organ donation registry.

The registry, which can be accessed through www.donatelifend.org or www.dot.nd.gov, was unveiled Tuesday at a news conference at the North Dakota State Capitol building's Memorial Hall. The Web site will allow people to register their decision to be organ donors without having to wait for their driver's licenses or identification cards to expire.

In the event of an organ donor's death, organs and tissues can be recovered and donated to people in need of them.

The 2009 Legislature passed Senate Bill 2067 to allow such an online registry system. The state Department of Transportation worked with LifeSource, a not-for-profit organ procurement organization, to create the Web site.

Monica Kersting said North Dakota is second in the nation in the percentage of people with driver's licenses or state-issued identification cards who have chosen to be organ donors with 64 percent. She hopes the state's rate will increase to 85 percent by Jan. 1.

She urged people to register immediately.

"Don't say, ‘I'll wait, I'll do it later,'" she said.

Loren Kersting said 85 percent should not be North Dakota's ultimate goal. He hopes all North Dakotans will choose to list themselves as organ donors.

"I challenge the state of North Dakota to become number one in saving lives," he said.

Francis Ziegler, director of the state DOT, said people need to enter their name, license number, Social Security number and date of birth on the Web site to register as an organ donor.

"It's very quick," he said.

The parents of juveniles will get a letter notifying them of the registration, and adults who register also will get a letter confirming the registration, he said.

Ziegler said the topic could be an uncomfortable one, since a person has to confront their own mortality in choosing to become an organ donor.

First lady Mikey Hoeven and LifeSource CEO Susan Gunderson urged people to register as organ donors to help save lives.

"This is a tragedy that no family should have to suffer," Hoeven said about Alexa's death.

After the news conference, Karla Kilen, who works in the state Department of Health, became the first person to use the registry to become an organ donor.

Ryan Ziegler, a 19-year-old Boy Scout from Bismarck Troop 11, also attended the news conference and passed out fliers from "Scouting for Life," a service project started last year by the troop to urge people to become organ donors.

(Reach reporter Jenny Michael at 250-8225 or jenny.michael@bismarcktribune.com.)