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  • Organ Donation

    Hope Jax doesn't mind me posting about this, it's in no way intended to pinch any of the lime light off the Blood Donation thread. A cause which I couldn't support more and implore everyone who hasn't to read the thread. But the combination of that thread and seeing a television piece about organ donation on the television tonight, surrounded by people who would benefit from it, made me write this.

    Whilst 96% of people in this country would accept a donated organ if they needed it, only 27% of people are registered donors.
    It takes the average adult 2 and a half years waiting to receive a kidney off the register, but 94% of recipients from live donors are still functioning well.

    Joining the register takes just a few moments, and that's it, you don't have to do anything else. Organs are taken if you pass away whilst registered and can go to furthering someone else's life.
    A little known fact transplantation is that it is not a cure, the donated organ will, in all probability, last an average of 11 years for kidneys, a maximum of 24 years for a successful heart and 3-5 years for lungs. They could also be rejected almost immediately if the recipient’s body fights it. For that reason a recipient will have to take anti-rejection drugs so long as the organ continues to function, but that's a much better deal than the alternatives (e.g 12-70 (yes 70!) hours' dialysis a week for a kidney patient).
    Heart, lung, kidney, pancreas, liver and the small bowel can all be transplanted. But there just aren't enough organs available for everyone who needs them. Ironically, improvements in road safety, medical advances and prevention of strokes in young people are some of the main causes for this short-fall in availability.

    Registering only takes a few minutes and can be accessed here. Anyone who signs up, or has already registered, has my personal gratitude.
    The NHS Blood and Transplant website has all the information you could need on the subject and even if you're unable or unwilling to register it still makes an interesting read.

    NHS Blood & Transplant - Organ Donation

    Thank you
    Last edited by OllieMartin; 02-11-2009, 11:32 PM.
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  • #2
    Hear hear!

    I couldn't agree more, Ollie.

    In fact, although I can understand (a bit) that people might be put off giving blood (assuming they are able to) because they have to go out their way/time consuming/might hurt etc etc, I can't think of even a single reason why you wouldn't sign up to be an organ donor.

    Let's face it, you're dead anyway, so you don't need your bits & bobs anymore, the only effort involved is filling in a form (presume you can even do it online from the link you've posted) and it really would be the absolute greatest gift that you could ever give to someone else.
    Last edited by Hazel at the Hill; 02-11-2009, 11:49 PM.

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    • #3
      Without organ donation my big brother wouldn't be here now. He had a kidney transplant 10 years ago.
      Have been on register for years
      Kirsty b xx

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      • #4
        Originally posted by Hazel at the Hill View Post
        In fact, although I can understand (a bit) that people might be put off giving blood (assuming they are able to) because they have to go out their way/time consuming/might hurt etc etc, I can't think of even a single reason why you wouldn't sign up to be an organ donor.
        I believe religous constraint is the main, active, reason why people don't register.

        Originally posted by kirsty b View Post
        Without organ donation my big brother wouldn't be here now. He had a kidney transplant 10 years ago.
        Have been on register for years
        I take it it's still functioning ok? That's alway nice to hear. I expect he's got an incredible scar to show for it too. (Maybe it's a guy-thing, or just me, but scars great. Every one tells a story, there is nothing like having a lethal weapon 3 style 'scar-off' and his would be a trump card!)
        Current Executive Board Members at Ollietopia Inc:
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        WikiGardener a subsidiary of Ollietopia Inc.

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        • #5
          I carry the card and I give blood . Not enough people do either. Well done for bringing it to the attention of others . Its not hard - sign up , carry the card and go and bleed twice a year for a glass of orange juice and a biscuit.They usually manage to leave me with a black arm but I always go back again.
          There comes a point in your life when you realize who matters, who never did, who won't anymore and who always will. Don't worry about people from your past, there's a reason why they didn't make it in your future.

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          • #6
            Originally posted by Hazel at the Hill View Post
            I can't think of even a single reason why you wouldn't sign up to be an organ donor.
            I've thought about it, and I have told my family that if I die I want my organs using if someone needs them. "It's not like I have any more use for them."

            However there's one reason I've heard that puts people off (I kinda harbour it a little bit myself too, to be honest).
            If you were in a bad way, you had a donor card and someone needed your (say) heart - there's a sneaking feeling for some people that you might not get the best effort to keep you alive and pull you through, instead giving your <insert organ here> to that cute kid in the hospital across town.

            I'm not aware of any evidence of that happening, but it is a real concern for some.

            We already know that Doctors have to make judgment calls about treatment sometimes. Is a particular procedure worth doing? It's understandable that people would think the same might apply to a donor who's maybe getting on a bit if a 13 year old kid with a tissue match needed some of your bits to stay alive.

            I'm sure there are some pretty hard rules in place about that - but again, it is a concern some people have.

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            • #7
              At 60 I'm too old (all my "bits" worn out)
              I did carry a donor card when I was younger.
              Last edited by bubblewrap; 03-11-2009, 07:18 AM.
              The river Trent is lovely, I know because I have walked on it for 18 years.
              Brian Clough

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              • #8
                I agree about organ donation. When I am dead, if anything is useful, take it, and my wife and children feel the same. However, I feel that maybe it should be administered in a different way. Instead of people volunteering to 'opt into' organ donation, hence the 27%, why not make it automatic that useful organs WILL be harvested from people, but give them the choice to 'opt out'. If any one has a serious objection to donating an organ, carry a card that says so! Anybody without a card can then be assumed to be a willing donor. Of course there will have to be checks in place to make sure the person hasn't forgotten their card, but even so, will that not go a long way to solving the problem?

                Zebedee
                "Raised to a state of heavenly lunacy where I just can't be touched!"

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                • #9
                  I am registered donor (don't have a card, didn't know they were still around), registered via renewal of driving licence. More importantly hubby (next of kin) knows my wishes. You need to tell your next of kin your wishes, as well, because a Doctor still needs permission. Now time to fess up I have never given blood, shameful I know. Many years ago I walked up Schehalion, with hubby and Aussie Pete (hiya). Came back down, fine and dandy. Next morning I woke up, my wrists were the width of my thighs and the circulation was compromised by the swelling and 205 mega blisters. I had to attend hospital to get every blister drained (the docs counted the blisters!) I had been bitten by something whilst walking and had taken an allergic reaction. Since then I cannot go near needles, still a pitiful and shameful excuse.

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                  • #10
                    I am registered as a donor. I tell OH they can have any bits of me that are of any use (less each year I fear), and if they can help someone they that's all I ask.

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                    • #11
                      I've been on the register for 20 years now, my mum needed a heart and lung transplant, she spent week in hospital under going blood, tissue, breathing tests, hooked up to machines that tested her lung capacity (very low), she contracted a lung disease when she'd worked in the sewing industry in 1974 which left her fighting for breath, this in turn put pressure on her heart.
                      Saddly my mum never received her new heart and lungs, and she past away in 1991, its still very painful to talk about it because if just one person with the right tissue match had said yes...my mum might still be here.
                      So please if you feel you can, and your family is OK with your decision..Regiser.
                      My mum was 61 when she died...

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                      • #12
                        Registered when the proper register was first promoted years back and carried a donor card (don't think these exist any more either) prior to that from the point when I was first old enough - probably 18 but could have been 16, long time ago now! A lot of people don't register due to not thinking about it and some that don't due to religious reasons (some of these also can't give blood) but I think there are quite a lot that don't want to do it as they don't want to think about death.

                        Some of us live in the past, always talking about back then. Some of us live in the future, always planning what we are going to do. And, then there are those, who neither look behind or ahead, but just enjoy the moment of right now.

                        Which one are you and is it how you want to be?

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                        • #13
                          I've always been registered and my Mum knew I would do it even before I could register. I'm on the Bone Marrow register, too.

                          I find it very hard to believe that they would be more inclined to switch machines off knowing that they could use your organs. Switching off machines for hope of a 'harvest' would be a rather large gamble, given the amount of unregistered people and the effects of grief on the next of kin.

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                          • #14
                            Originally posted by organic View Post
                            We already know that Doctors have to make judgment calls about treatment sometimes.
                            The Hippocratic Oath should allay your fears. And anyway, the paramedics at a car crash aren't going to know who is on a donor register - or if they are cuter than you
                            All gardeners know better than other gardeners." -- Chinese Proverb.

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                            • #15
                              I'm also on the Anthony Nolan Bone Marrow Register S.L.
                              If anyone is interested this is the link.

                              The Anthony Nolan Trust | Reg. No. 803716 / SC038827 | Home

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