Organ donors are heroes to many

[okarol]

Organ donors are heroes to many

By NATALIE D. PRESTON
Special to the Tribune
Published: May 3, 2009

About this time 10 years ago, I was preparing to depart for a conference in San Antonio, Texas.

The phone rang about 6 a.m.

My daddy had coded at James A. Haley Veterans' Hospital. The staff managed to revive him, but for all practical purposes he had already left this earth.

In the months leading up to his demise, he suffered from several things - foot surgery, multiple urinary tract infections, pneumonia, etc. However, one thing that did not fail him until the very end - no doubt a result of other systemic complications - was his kidney.

His transplant kidney served my family well for 11 wonderful years. This is time that I would not forfeit for anything; however, in hindsight, I realize that I took time for granted.

Selfishly, I assumed that I would always be able to call my daddy and ask how to make creamed beef for breakfast or hold his hands made rough from years of glucose finger pricking or tickle him around his (pot) belly until he got upset or receive encouragement with a difficult decision that lay ahead.

I assumed that my parents would live forever. I digress ...

As much as I miss my daddy, I am extremely thankful to the LifeLink Foundation, a local organization dedicated to recovering organs and tissue for transplants, and the generosity of a stranger in Oklahoma.

Because of their passion, commitment to life and kindness, my daddy was freed from dialysis.

They gave. He lived. We loved.

A donor is found

Fast forward to the first weekend in April.

Something attacked my mother-in-law's liver to the point that it could not repair itself.

As a result, her body temperature was intentionally lowered to slow down the effect of excess toxins in her system. A device was affixed to her skull to measure pressure in her brain. She was in a medical coma.

The doctors informed the family that she was the sickest person in Tampa General Hospital's 958-bed facility.

I dared not guess how long my mother-in-law could have survived without a liver transplant. Thankfully, I did not have to contemplate her mortality for long. Within days, the family was informed of a liver match by way of a donor from Savannah, Ga.

My mother-in-law has a long road to recovery, but thanks to a big-hearted family from Georgia, she lives.

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the "first successful organ transplant" was conducted in December 1954. Since then, thousands of donors made the generous decision to share a part of themselves with others in order for strangers to have second chance at life.

Need is greater

"In 2008, more than 14,198 people were organ donors." That number is impressive, but it falls woefully short of the actual need for organs.

The United Network for Organ Sharing's Feb. 28 National Patient Wait List reflects that Floridians are waiting on: 2,965 kidneys, 376 livers, 12 pancreases, 66 kidney-pancreases, six intestines, 123 hearts, four heart-lungs and 140 lung transplants.

These 3,962 Floridians are a fraction of the 101,277 patients on the U.S. wait list.

So, what does all of this mean for you? Nothing, unless you are willing to unselfishly share a part of yourself with others.

The LifeLink Foundation states that a donor's physical condition - not age - makes them an eligible donor; families do not incur a cost when donating an organ; and, "All major religions support donation and have provided statements for their members."

With all of these green lights in support of organ, tissue and marrow/blood stem cell donation, there is nothing stopping you from giving the gift of life.

Visit www.organ donor.org/register.html today and let family members know of your desire to give others life.

On behalf of my daddy, mother-in-law and the 200,000 Americans alive today due to donated organs ...

Thank you.

Natalie Preston is a former Tribune columnist and posts regularly on the Tribune Editorial's "Thinking Out Loud" blog site, where this first appeared.

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2009/may/03/030023/co-organ-donors-are-heroes-to-many/news-opinion-commentary/