The return of spring reminds us of the renewal of life. I was fortunate to have spent Easter with my granddaughters Rowan and Eve and their delight with the wonders found on our “nature walks” was a highlight of the weekend! Flowers beginning to poke through the soil, buds forming on the trees, and each morning beginning with a chorus of bird songs in the garden, had them (and me) enthralled.
Perhaps it’s most fitting then that April is National Donate Life Month, a time when we encourage Americans to register as organ, eye and tissue donors. Registration is easy, and your donation can save several lives. You can become a donor when you renew your driver’s license or through Donate Life America at donatelife.net.
This type of donor status, known as deceased donation, means that if something unfortunate should happen to you, your organs can be used to help someone in need.
But there is also living donation, which is when a donor decides to give a kidney or a portion of their liver to a recipient whose own organ cannot function well enough to sustain life. The donor can be a relative or acquaintance of the recipient or just someone who is aware that there are people who need organ transplants to live, and the donation itself can be direct or anonymous. There’s also the option of bone marrow donation for patients with various types of cancer whose treatment requires reestablishment of a healthy bone marrow after cancer killing therapy wipes their own out.
People die in the United States every day, because there aren’t enough life-saving organs or tissues available for transplant. Every 10 minutes, someone is added to the waitlist for an organ transplant.
Despite the roughly 30,000 transplant surgeries that are performed in the U.S. each year, there are still more Americans waiting for this critical surgery.
To become a living donor, you have to be 18 or older, in good health with no chronic conditions, and have normal organ function. You also have to be a match for the recipient in terms of blood and tissue type, so a recipient’s loved one cannot always be the donor.
If you do decide to become a living donor and you are a match for someone in need, it’s important to remember that the doctors involved will be caring for you and the recipient equally throughout the process. Your health will not be compromised, so many tests will be run to determine if you are both a match and well enough for the donation. Once the procedure takes place, there is no long hospital stay or long-term medical care needed for the donor. You’ll stay one to two days in the hospital, and after a short recovery, you’ll return to your normal life.
For the recipient, an organ transplant can be a new lease on life. As we mentioned, transplant surgery saves lives and can also improve a patient’s quality of life by, for example, allowing a patient to come off of dialysis.
And remember, you don’t have to be young or related to a recipient to give the gift of life. There is no age limit for adult donors, and you can be a match for anyone who needs an organ.
If donating is something you’ve been considering, take some time to learn more about the process.
Locally, Geisinger has a living kidney donor program, and you can get more information at go.geisinger.org/DonateLife.
Your doctor can also advise about leaving a legacy of life after you’ve passed on.