PITTSFIELD -- Among the patients in the dialysis unit at Berkshire Medical Center, Jeff Doscher knows he is lucky: He can still walk and still work. But, like everyone in his shoes, he is waiting to close the chapter of his life where he has to sit in the hospital three times a week to filter his blood for four hours.

The only way out of dialysis is an organ transplant, a long process of waiting and fingers-crossing that was the subject of Berkshire Community College's "Live to Tell: Priceless Gifts" forum on Tuesday afternoon.

In the U.S., 110,000 people are now on a transplant list, and 6,000 die every year while waiting, according to Sean Fitzpatrick, director of public affairs of the New England Organ Bank.

"It's simply a lack of donated organs," Fitzpatrick said.