I came across the following story after reading about a little boy who is waiting for a heart transplant. He and his Mom have been staying at a Ronald McDonald House for over a year and a half while they wait for a "perfect heart". It makes our 5 month stay seem like a walk in the park...Organ Donors are heroes because if it wasn't for them, Archie and millions of other people might not be alive today...please read this story:
Don't Take Your Organs to Heaven
On February 19th, 1990, at Memorial City Medical Center in West Houston, a little girl was born one month premature. She was only 3 pounds 9 ounces and worse, she was blue. She was quickly transported to Texas Children’s Hospital where she was diagnosed with several heart complications, the greatest being Pulmonary Atresia. This meant that she did not have a working Pulmonary artery to carry blood to her lungs to become oxygenated. That is why she was blue.
Her parents baptized in the hospital with sterilized water fearing she would die.
Her parents prayed and waited.
For 10 days they couldn’t hold their baby girl. When she was 10 days old the doctors performed a minor surgery to insert a shunt to connect what needed to be connected in order for her to grow strong. Her parents held her for the first time. They were told the only way she would survive long-term was if she received a donor Artery.
When she was 4 yrs old, she was strong enough to receive that precious gift. That little girl stands before you today.
Hello, my name is Katy Portell and I am here to plead with all of you 18 and older to sign up to become an organ donor and to encourage those of you younger than 18 to sign up to donate as soon as you are of age.
The need for organ donors is real.
Today I’ll demonstrate the reality of this growing need by giving you statistics, stories like mine, general information, and also by addressing the most frequent concerns regarding organ donation.
As you drive around in your hometown you may spot the bumper sticker that reads “Don’t take your organs to heaven; Heaven knows we need them here.” That is the issue I’d like to address today; the growing need for organ donors. As of 1:01am yesterday, there were 95,225 candidates listed with UNOS, the Unite Network for Organ Sharing. That means that 95,225 people need some kind of organ transplant. As you can see the need for donors is great.
David J. Undis, the Executive Director of LifeSharers, a non-profit organ donation network, reported the following disturbing statistics in a May 2005 news article. “April is National Donate Life Month. During the month, over 500 Americans waiting for transplants will die waiting. Their deaths will be needless. Americans will bury or cremate almost 2,000 transplantable organs during National Donate Life Month…Only about 30% of Americans are registered organ donors.”
Though this article was published in 2005, there unfortunately has not been a significant increase in organ donors.
Giving an organ is giving life and that, you could easily say, is the ultimate gift. It is the gift that so many have received. The gift I received. I never though much about my donor, until my mom and I joined the local Mended Little Hearts Group. Mended Little Hearts is a support group for families whose children have been born with heart defects.
There we met the Stockwell family. Shawn Stockwell is currently 8 years old and is residing at the Ronald McDonald House at Stanford Medical Center with his mother and two sisters. He has been waiting there for heart transplant for over 322 days. Shawn has amazing strength and perseverance as does his whole family. And yet they are left waiting for the perfect heart; for that miraculous call that will lead to the next road towards recovery. But there is a shortage of donor organs. Not enough people realize what that gift could mean for someone else. Someone like Shawn. Someone like me.
Shawn’s mother recently wrote, “Before Shawn, I would have NEVER even thought of donating my child’s organs – and now I live in a world where my child’s life – as well as MANY others – depends on it.”
The need for organ donors is real. The Board on Health Sciences Policy reported in their book Organ Donation: Opportunities for Action that “the likelihood that over the course of a lifetime a given person or someone that he or she cares about will need a solid-organ transplant is surprisingly high (about 1 in 5).” That means that 1 in 5 people will either need or care about someone who needs an organ transplant.
Now, let me tell you a little bit about organ donation itself. According to the United Network for Organ Sharing, organs that may be donated include the heart, kidneys, pancreas, lungs, liver, and intestines. Also eye, skin, bone, heart valve, and tendon tissues may be donated. On a waiting list for transplants, the financial or celebrity status of an individual is irrelevant. The donated organ will go to the individual who is in the most severe state of sickness, and also according to their time spent waiting, blood type, and other medical issues. You should not decline from becoming a donor due to age or medical history. At the time of death the proper medical professionals review your medical history to determine whether or not your organs may be used. Apart from having “organ donor” noted on your license or carrying a donor card, if you wish to become a donor you must also inform your family of your decision as they will be consulted by medical officials before a donation may occur.
Now, the greatest concern for people with regards to organ donation is where you draw the line. Many people fear that if you’re in the emergency room and the doctor know you are a willing donor that they will not try as hard to save your life. First of all, a serious part of this issue is lack of trust in medical personnel. We must trust that a doctor will make moral and ethical choices with every decision. If you are admitted into the hospital, their number one priority is to save your life. You must trust your doctors even in everyday situations: trusting that they’ll give you the right prescription, trusting that they’ll follow the correct procedure in surgery; you must trust the people who take care of you. However, in reality, this concern is a direct result of the lack of donors. If more people were willing to donate, this wouldn’t be such an issue. Doctors wouldn’t be so desperate for organs.
Another concern is your family being charged with the cost. However, there is no cost to the donor’s family for organ donation. Also, donated organs are removed surgically so as to not change the appearance of the body for the funeral service.
Lastly, a great reason many people hesitate signing up to donate their organs is because ultimately it leads to a discussion of death, their death. We cannot talk about organ donation without touching on this ultimate reality. One thing we know is that every single person will die. The question then becomes what will our last act be on Earth? Will it be selfless? Will it give life? Will it give hope so that a scared family will not have to grieve that day? A family perhaps like the Stockwells.
I hope today I’ve convinced those of you who can sign up that the need to donate is real and dire. Shawn is still waiting for a heart. And he can only receive one if people like you decide to give the gift of life, to… “not take your organs to heaven”; and I’m eternally grateful for the gift someone gave me.
