Friday 6 June 2008

Organ Donation - The Ultimate in Reusing


Photo: mtsofan


Did you know that about five and a half thousand people are currently on the organ waiting list, desperate for a transplant that could save their lives?

Kidneys are in highest demand although livers, lungs and hearts are all urgently needed. Unfortunately, because there simply aren’t enough donars, many of those people will die before they come even close to their chance of a transplant. Luckily, 949 of those on last year's list survived thanks to transplants and a lot more had the quality of their lives improved.

I don’t know about you but I think that people dying while healthy organs rot beneath the ground is a terrible, terrible shame.

I signed up for organ donation here in the UK when I was a young lass of just eighteen but on enquiring with my doctor, that’s no longer valid. I signed up in Norway, too, but that’s not much use to me here. But I’ve no excuse now – it’s just a matter of point, click and sign up! Yes, you can become an organ donar online.

Just visit UK Transplant and the rest is easy peasy - it'll take no more than a minute of your time. So unless you have some religious or other strong personal reason for not wanting to become a donar, there’s no excuse for delay.

I hope that each and every one of us has a long and happy life ahead but you just never know. As my mum always said: “you could be bowled down by a bus when you least expect it so make sure you’re always wearing clean knickers!”.

And who knows who’s going to be needing a donar next? It could be me, you or somebody we love. We’d soon be wishing there were more donars then, wouldn't we?

Sharon J xx

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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm 100 percent for organ donation. I don't think we can really judge people for not being a donor, though. It's an incredibly personal decision laced with religious undertones for many. The best we can do is educate people on the benefits and then let each individual make the decision that's right for them.

Sharon J said...

I'm really not judging anyone, Sara. As I said in my post, some people do have religious or personal reasons for not wanting to become a donar but I so believe that when it comes to the majority of us (and that includes me), it's more a matter or not having really given it any thought or just plain not having got round to it. Hopefully, now that we can sign up online rather than having to fill out a form at the doctor's surgery, more of us will actually do something about it.