Transplants happen to other people…
April 1, 2009 by Marijke Durning, RN
Filed under Diseases & Conditions
Transplants are something that happen to someone else. Dying is also something that happens to someone else. Having to make heart wrenching decisions about 
death, dying and transplantation happens in other families, to other people. Or do they?
But what if – just what if – someone you loved became ill and the only way to survive was to receive an organ from 
someone else? Would those transplants and deaths only be happening to someone else?
Over 100,000 people in the U.S. need an organ transplant.
More than half of these individuals will die before an organ becomes available.
In the time it will take for 8,000 of these people to die, over 20,000 organs will be thrown away: cremated or buried with their owners.
Source: LifeSharers.org
If you’ve ever wondered about the effectiveness of transplants, this article and those over the course of the month may inspire you to join in and sign your donor card. Transplants can help people to see again. Transplants can help people live again. Transplants can give you back the person you were losing.
Key Organ Donation Facts: What Everyone Should Know
- Over 6,000 Americans die every year while on the waiting list for a life-saving transplant — one every 90 minutes.
- The waiting list is growing 5 times as fast as the rate of organ donation.
- You are more likely to need an organ transplant than you are to die in circumstances that permit the donation your organs.
- No one is too old to be an organ donor. People would rather live with an old organ than die waiting for a young one.
- No one is too sick to be an organ donor. Ongoing advances in medical science mean that an organ that may not be transplantable today may very well be so five, ten or more years from now.
Source: LifeSharers.org
Let us know your story if you have one. If you read a story that touches you, please forward it on, help spread the word.
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Click here to read more in this organ donation series.
Images: iStock
This is a great reminder. For a while, I’ve thought about giving away one of my kidneys. I did a story about kidney donation and learned that live donated kidneys last a lot longer than ones from cadavers. I just haven’t been able to get up the courage. So next best thing: comment here and suggest the idea to others!
And there’s also bone marrow, too. You can help others while you are still alive.
Thanks Alisa, you’re right, bone marrow is another topic that should be addressed.
I wrote about it last year on my other blog, http://medhealthwriter.blogspot.com, but it’s time I write a post for that here too. Thanks for the reminder.
As someone who has spent the last three days in the ER and in emergency hospital admission, this hits close to home even though I don’t need an organ donation.
I’ve always been listed as an organ donor and have made it VERY clear to my family what my wishes are. “Don’t bury it if someone else can use it!”
Transplantation was never a topic of conversation in our home. We never thought about it. Somehow we ended up with two transplant patients. i Had a heart transplant in August ‘05 and my mom has been on the UNOS waiting list for over six years for a kidney. Obviously we are now very big advocates for transplantation. I would not be here writing this comment had it not been for the generosity of others. We pray that a kidney will become available for mom soon. she is so tired and almost emotionally defeated by dialysis. We are just one story among thousands of those waiting for or having received an organ. Thanks for the article. Every article helps bring awareness.
Thank you for writing about this important topic. I have a friend who has Stage 4 Kidney disease (not the official diagnosis) and may need a transplant soon. She’s only 40 but was prescribed medicine in her 20s that destroyed her kidneys.
I’ll look forward to reading the rest of this month’s posts!