Speaking of Transplants...

April is national Donate Life month and as it is a subject close to me, I thought I might as well make a post arguing the importance of joining the cause (Rhetoric, right? This totally relates to class.)

For those who have never heard of it, Donate Life is an alliance dedicated to increasing the donation of organ, eyes and tissue nationwide.  Their ultimate mission is to get as many people as possible to sign up as donors--basically to save lives.  Often, organ transplantation is a greatly overlooked niche of healthcare, despite just how many people it affects. In 2013 alone there were 28,953 transplants performed. 

I'll start with a little bit about transplantation itself.  At this moment, more than 120,000 people in the United States are awaiting a transplant.  This situation is subjectively a very tedious and usually very trying one.  Simply to make it onto the list one must be extremely ill--there is no pre-list or just-in-case insurance.  Just to make it into being considered for a place on the wait-list, the life of a person must already be severely impeded by the illness affecting them, enough so that a board analyzing your case will find you a worthy candidate.  When that point is reached, the patient must then undergo the lengthy process of appealing and preparing, which is generally a multi-day all-day process in which the already very ill patient visits between various doctors who analyze and prepare them for the transplant (hopefully) to come, in great detail.  Once the patient has been awarded a spot on the wait-list and have undergone the lengthy preparation process, all that is left to do is quite literally wait on the ring.   Patients can wait anywhere from months to years to receive an organ, growing sicker and sicker all the while--and some never do.  Go back to high school, when you applied to college.  Imagine all the stress surrounding every application filled and sent, the exhausting thrill of spending day after day visiting potential school after potential school--and then remember the anxiety that weighed you down day after day waiting to hear back, not sure it would even be good news.  This is the closest comparison I can make to awaiting the call that says they have got an organ for you--except instead of worrying about whether or not you'll get into your dream school, you are worrying about your life.

So what can you do to help?

Often, transplantation is overlooked because of the lack of education about it.  While a few organ donations can be made from living donors by volunteering (kidney, or a portion of liver, lung, intestine, pancreas), signing up as a donor simply means that when a person dies, they give doctors the opportunity to use their organs to save the lives of still-living people who need them to remain alive.  Many people are uncomfortable considering their own mortality and that is normal--but it makes organ donation a hard thing to discuss.  The importance however, is unchanged.  Death is hard to consider, yes--but by signing up for organ donation you can find comfort in the fact that it will bring life to many more people (and yes, one organ donor can save up to eight lives--and up to 50 if tissue and eyes are donated as well).

There are many misconceptions about transplantation as well--questions of things such as religious correctness and who can donate.  The most important thing to know is that anyone can donate, regardless of age or other medical conditions.  There is almost always a way you can save someone else, and transplant doctors are specifically trained to make certain that the organs used for transplant will not harm the recipient.  Additionally, there are very few religious traditions that condemn transplantation, and ultimately only do in the most orthodox settings.  It is also important to note that if you are a donor you are not considered such until you are deceased.  This may seem clear, however more often than not people forgo becoming a donor because they fear this status will make their lives less valued when they are admitted to a hospital.  This is simply untrue--a doctor's first priority is always to you. 

This may sound over-exaggerated and cheesy, but the simple fact is that organ donation saves lives and anyone can do it.  I hope this cleared up some facts and misconceptions and I am happy to answer any that anyone has been left with.  You don't use your organs once you are gone, but someone else can.

If you are interested in registering to become a donor, click here.

Sources:
http://donatelife.net/
http://www.transplantliving.org/community/patient-resources/frequently-asked-questions/