Please be an organ donor!

Thank you very much for taking interest in my blog. Organ donation is a topic I feel strongly about, mostly due to the fact that you can save someone’s life after you are dead. Not everyone knows about organ donation and many others don’t know the truths about it and have been falsely informed about donating their organs. Thank you once again for reading my blog! If you want to share your views please comment below.

Organ donation is the gift of an organ to help someone who needs a transplant. The generosity of donors and their family’s enables over 3,000 people in the UK every year to take on a new lease of life. The first successful kidney transplant was in 1954. The first heart transplant took place in 1967. Kidneys, heart, liver, lungs, pancreas and the small bowel can all be transplanted. Techniques are improving all the time and doctors may soon be able to transplant other parts of the body to help even more people.

Here are my views on organ donation
• You don’t HAVE to donate your organs, but if you don’t need your body once you are dead, why not help other people live?
• If you expect someone to give you or your loved ones organs when needed, then you should be prepared to be an organ donor too!
Organ donation is a very touchy subject, it often has controversy surounding it.
Here are some rumours surrounding organ donation
Myths:

• One, if I agree to donate my organs, the attending physician or emergency room staff won't try to save my life. They'll remove my organs as soon as possible to save somebody else. {Reality: When you go to the hospital for treatment, doctors focus on saving your life — not somebody else's.}

• Two.what if I’m not actually dead when they sign my death certificate? It'll be too late for me if they've taken my organs for transplantation. I might have otherwise recovered. {Reality: Physicians are not going to declare a person dead without first going through the necessary internationally agreed well researched formal testing to ensure that the donor is brain dead }

• Three. People under eighteen years of age are too young to make this decision.
{Reality: That's true, in a legal sense. But the minor’s parents can authorize this decision. If you are under eighteen, you can express to your parents your wish to donate, and your parents can give their consent knowing that it's what you wanted. Children, too, are in need of organ transplants, and they usually need organs smaller than those an adult can provide.}

• Four. I want or my loved one wants to have an open-casket funeral. That can't happen if his or her organs or tissues have been donated. {Reality: Organ and tissue donation doesn't interfere with having an open-casket funeral. The donor's body is clothed for burial, so there are no visible signs of organ or tissue donation. For eye donation, an artificial eye is inserted, the lids are closed and set during embalming, and no one can tell any difference. For bone donation, a rod is inserted where bone is removed. With skin donation, a very thin layer of skin similar to a sunburn peel is taken from the donor's back. Because the donor is clothed and lying on his or her back in the casket, no one can see any difference.}

• Five Elderly people are not candidates for organ donation. {Reality: That’s false. There's no defined age limit for donating organs. Organs have been successfully transplanted from donors in their 70s and 80s. The decision to use your organs is based on strict medical criteria, not age. Don't disqualify yourself prematurely. Let the doctors decide at your time of death whether your organs and tissues are suitable for transplantation.}

• Six. I'm in poor health or my eyesight is weak. Nobody would want my organs or tissues. {Reality: Overall, that’s not true. Very few medical conditions automatically prevent you from donating organs. The decision to use an organ is based on strict medical criteria. It may turn out that certain organs are not suitable for transplantation, but other organs and tissues may be fine. Don't automatically count out donation if it’s something you want to do. Only medical professionals at the time of your death can determine whether your organs are suitable for transplantation.}

Since 1 April 2009:
* 502 People have donated organs (after tragic deaths)
* An additional 1,114 people have donated corneas (anterior covering of the eyeball)
* 1,557 people have received the gift of sight
* 1,403 people have received transplants
* 8,141 people are still waiting for transplants

STOP LIVES BEING WASTED AND BECOME A DONOR TODAY! So how do you register? On your next visit to the GP pick up a organ donation form, if you still have unanswered questions about organ donation, you can ask your GP as well. You can register online, here is the link http://www.uktransplant.org.uk/ukt/how_to_become_a_donor/registration/consent.jsp

You can get a leaflet from your local library too. Thanks very much for getting to the end of my long Blog – you can see how passionate I am about this issue! If you could please take a moment to answer these few final questions I’d be very grateful!

1. Have a made you more aware of the benefits of organ donation? Please explain briefly.
2. Would you now be prepared to tell other people about the benefits of organ donation?
3. Would you now consider being an organ donor your self? Please explain your answer.