A friend of mine posted an interesting blog entry today. So often we focus on the bad news. It’s what they talk about on the news, it’s what so many people think about and dwell on. Connie made some good points in her post as she often does. I posted a comment, but I wanted to share it here because it really got me thinking, it’s about my sister.
I’ve mentioned a number of times on here that she’s donating her kidney to my dad. (It seems, however, that I forget to mention it to some people close to me, though, sorry to them.) She and I were talking about some of the comments she hears when she tells people she’s donating her kidney to our dad. “I don’t know if I could do it” being a very common one. That baffles me. How could you NOT do it? If someone you love greatly needed an organ that you could give them why wouldn’t you do it?
Did you know that one out of 750 people live normal productive lives with only one kidney? Did you know that recipients of a living donor kidney have a longer life expectancy than recipients of a non-living donor kidney? Did you know that the average waiting time for a kidney is 1,121 days? Don’t get me wrong, I know there are many reasons why someone might not be able to be a living donor. For medical reasons I couldn’t donate one of my kidneys to my dad. But, you can donate when you don’t need your organs any more.
Do I feel strongly about this? Yes! My dad is alive today because some family donated life 13 years ago. My dad has three beautiful grandchildren that he gets to see each day because a family decided to not let their loved ones death be in vain.
And, you want to hear some good news? My sister is giving our father one of her kidneys so that he can watch his grandson grow up. My sister didn’t say “I don’t know if I can do that” but is willing to miss a few weeks of being able to hold her three year old son so his grandpa can hold him for years to come. My sister has decided that these statistics aren’t acceptable and is making a difference.
- Almost 100,000 men, women and children currently need life-saving organ transplants.
- An average of 18 people die each day from the lack of available organs for transplant.
- In 2005, there were 7,593 deceased organ donors and 6,895 living organ donors resulting in 28,108 organ transplants.
My best friend’s mom never got to meet her granddaughter because the waiting list for a lung was too long. (The average waiting time for a lung is 1,068 days.) When my dad was in the hospital once after his transplant I watched his roommate die because he couldn’t get a liver. (The average waiting time for a liver is 796 days.) Is this sad? Is this scary? Yes. But, it’s also very real.
Friend’s, find out what you have to do to be an organ and tissue donor.
That’s my dad and my sister, and as she put it “from here on out, a part of me will always be with him 
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Till later…I have to go fill out my Idaho Donor Registration.
I am a self-employed virtual bookkeeper. I work from my own office assisting companies around the nation with their bookkeeping needs. I love what I do and love the businesses I assist. I live in the beautiful Idaho Panhandle. I love to share tales of my life in the north.
