Organ Donation

Have you been thinking of signing an organ donor card?
Do you have questions as to why you should donate your body parts?
If so read on and see the difference your decision can make in enhancing the life of others.

A few years ago I attended a nursing continuing education seminar on the topic of organ donation. After the main speaker's opening presentation on the "Overview of Organ Donation" She introduced three guest speakers who were each touched by the experience of organ donation.
The first guest speaker was the mother of a healthy, happy, athletic and academically successful eighteen year old son who got a brand new car for his birthday. A week after getting his car he crashed into a tree. As she rushed to the hospital to visit him. She saw him lying in the surgical intensive care unit (SICU) bed. He was on a respirator and there was a small bruise on his forehead. She said, 'he looked just fine, like he was just resting, but the doctor told her he was brain dead."

She was devastated, numbed and distraught. As her family members gathered to support and comfort her she was in turmoil. She met with the medical staff and her family they discussed taking him off the respirator and the possibility of organ donation. After hours of discussion and planning she eventually made the decision to donate his entire body for organ donation. It was a decision that she realize would enhance several peoples' lives. She gave the gifts of his heart, lungs, kidneys, liver, pancreas, eyes, bone and skin. She ended by saying, "today I feel comfort knowing that my son's legacy lives on in the lives of others. The one wish I would like to have is to meet the person who got my son's heart. That would mean a lot to me."

The second guest speaker was a tall middle aged woman who had, had end stage kidney disease. She had been home bound and had to have kidney dialysis in order to maintain her existence. She was unable to work and to take care of her children. She flashed a big smile when she said, "today I am here to tell you how grateful I am to have received a kidney transplant that has given me back my life. Now I can work, take care of myself and my family." Her gratitude could be felt by everyone in the room.

The third speaker was a robust, healthy looking man in his early sixties. He told us about his vacation trip to the Bahamas. He was having a great time when he suffered a sudden heart attack. He returned to the United States and his name was added to the heart transplant list. He waited and waited with fear of impending death. Finally he received a call that there was a heart available for him. That was the heart of an eighteen year old boy. As he prepared for surgery he wondered how he would know if he was still alive after surgery. He was scared. He asked his wife to place a bouquet of yellow roses in his room so that when he saw them after surgery he would know he is alive. He said, 'it worked and today he was here to say he has never felt healthier. He is so grateful to the family who had donated that heart and he was happy to have a second chance on life."

Soon after the main speaker introduced the mother to the heart transplant patient as the person who had received her son's heart. The moment was like nothing I had ever experienced before. They hugged each other and by then there was not a dry eye in that room. We were all caught up in a wave of emotion, the impact and the difference that organ donation makes on people and on society.

Based on Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) as of April 7, 2008 there are 98,718 candidates on the United States waiting list.
Would you like to make a difference in someone's life? Would you like to give the gift of life? Would you like to donate your body parts? You can do so by signing an organ donor card. For more information contact the United Network for Organ Sharing. (UNOS) at:
804-782-4920
www.unos.org
Organ Donor.Gov