Letter: Urging organ donation
Published: October 22, 2009
I am a sixth-grade student at Pinedale Elementary who is in the “Adventures Beyond the Classroom” program for gifted students. Sixth-grade students in this program, including me, are required to do an independent study on a specific topic.
I decided to do organ donation, and, for my project, I will try to raise awareness of the need for organ donation.
I chose this topic because my grandfather, sadly, has hepatitis C and is waiting for a liver transplant.
Recent information has shown that there are not enough organ donors for patients in need of them. Every day, about 19 people die just waiting for an organ.
There are many reasons for the lack of organ donation. One of those reasons is that some people may think that organ donation costs too much. The truth is that it doesn’t cost anything at all.
One other reason may be that people think if they are an organ donor, they shouldn’t trust emergency doctors when they are in an accident or are injured.
Doctors will try to save your life as much as a patient in need of an organ.
Another big reason could be that people don’t realize that signing an organ donor card or marking your license is not enough for being one. Family members will decide if you can become an organ donor, so you need to be sure they know you want to be one.
Organ donation is desperately needed in these times. You should try to tell anyone you know about organ donation, which would hopefully affect the amount of organ donors.
Visit these Web sites: http://www.donatelife.net; http://www.UNOS.org; or http://www.transplantliving.com.
Ryan Bratt
Enterprise
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Reader Reactions
Your story about Organ Donation highlighted the tragic shortage of human organs for transplant operations.
Over half of the 100,000 Americans on the national transplant waiting list will die before they get a transplant. Most of these deaths are needless. Americans bury or cremate 20,000 transplantable organs every year.
There is a simple way to put a big dent in the organ shortage – give donated organs first to people who have agreed to donate their own organs when they die.
Giving organs first to organ donors will convince more people to register as organ donors. It will also make the organ allocation system fairer. People who aren’t willing to share the gift of life should go to the back of the waiting list as long as there is a shortage of organs.
Anyone who wants to donate their organs to others who have agreed to donate theirs can join LifeSharers. LifeSharers is a non-profit network of organ donors who agree to offer their organs first to other organ donors when they die. Membership is free at www.lifesharers.org or by calling 1-888-ORGAN88. There is no age limit, parents can enroll their minor children, and no one is excluded due to any pre-existing medical condition. LifeSharers has over 13,000 members at this writing, including 177 members in Alabama.
Please contact me - Dave Undis, Executive Director of LifeSharers - if your readers would like to learn more about our innovative approach to increasing the number of organ donors. I can arrange interviews with some of our local members if you’re interested. My email address is daveundis@lifesharers.org. My phone number is 615-351-8622.
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