Organ Donation

The last week or so have found me thinking about and talking about organ donation. A friend that is also a lobbyist is about to have his transplant (that will make 3 of us in 3 years... maybe we should start our own caucus). Last Friday I learned about an FBI agent in Chicago that gave a kidney to someone he didnt know (drop me a message and I will send you a link to his excellent blog). Saturday I was asked to speak at my old dialysis clinic about PD and transplant. While I was there I met a friend of a friend that is waiting on his transplant. We had emailed each other a few times but actually met for the first time last Saturday.

Yesterday I went to Organ Donor recognition day at the State Capitol. I have been the last 3 or 4 years and this year's event was the largest yet (and my first post transplant). Several donor families spoke about their experience, some living donors spoke, and a couple of recipiants also spoke.

One woman is a foster parent. Her foster son needed a transplant and she ended up being a perfect match. He is the cutest four year old you have ever met. The odds of the two of them being a match is so rare (kinda like being a match with someone you meet through a hockey message board) that it makes you really believe in fate/destiny.

Another woman lost one of her sons 2 years ago and 7 people were able to be helped through his death by receiving organs. I cant imagine the grief that this mother had to go through with the death of her young son but the fact that she was adament about helping others is something truly special. Last fall her older son learned that a friend of his needed a kidney and so he gave one of his. What an incredible story of an incredible family.

I remember being in 6th or 7th grade and somehow we began discussing being an organ donor. Most of my peers were adamantly opposed to it (at 12 or 13) but for some reason me and a couple of others were not. When I got my drivers license I also signed up to officially be an organ donor. I never knew that I would need an organ but I felt strongly about being a donor.

As National Organ and Tissue Donation Awareness month winds down, please take time out to seriously think about being an organ donor and signing the back of your drivers license (or downloading a card off the internet) and letting your family know your wishes. Almost 100,000 Americans need a transplant. Every 12 minutes, someone else is added to the transplant waiting list. 18 people die every day while waiting for a transplant. Please help them out.






Oh, thank you Brandi for helping me.