Organ Donation

About 74 people a day receive an organ transplant, however an average of 17 people die each day waiting for transplants. Did you know that more than 88,000 men, women and children currently await life-saving transplants? Every 12 minutes another name is added to the national transplant waiting list. Of those 88,000 waiting 61,000 of them are waiting for a kidney. How many of you here are organ donors? I use to feel that I didn’t want a Doctor taking anything from me after I have passed, even knowing that two of my family members, an Uncle and Cousin, had severe kidney disease. It wasn’t until after they had passed away that I really thought about organ donation and that’s pretty sad, it shouldn’t be like that. I have a bumper sticker on my car that reads, “Don’t take your organs to Heaven, Heaven knows we need them here” and how true that is. When you hear something like that it tends to make you think about your decision not to donate. But in all honesty I wasn’t completely sure about just giving my organs away, I had to do my research on organ donation, I had questions, and I wanted answers. Questions like: How are organs distributed? Can I agree to donate some organs or tissue and not others? If I sign a donor card or indicate my donation preferences on my driver’s license, will my wishes be carried out? And Can I change my mind? These are some of the questions I will answer for you today along with giving you a brief description about what life is like waiting on a donor list.

The first successful kidney transplant was in 1954 and is the most common transplant today. The primary function of the kidney is to remove waste products and excess fluid from your blood. Every day, the kidneys filter about 200 quarts of fluid, 2 quarts leave the body in the form of urine, while the remainder is retained in the body. How many of us really think about our ability to urinate, I know I never did, but for my Uncle and Cousin, they could only wish to do what comes so naturally to us. When you have kidney disease and suffer Renal failure, which is what both of my relative’s had, the kidneys are unable to remove those wastes through urinateing. When the kidneys no longer perform these functions adequately, wastes and excess fluid build up in the blood. Some of the warning signs of kidney disease are as follows:

1. High blood pressure

2. Burning or difficulty when urinating

3. Frequent urination at night

4. Blood in your urine

5. Cola or tea-colored urine

6. Swelling of the eyes, ankles, or feet

7. Lower back pain unrelated to physical activity

Now if your body is not able to remove these wastes naturally, then your next step is to start getting Hemodialysis treatments. Hemodialysis is where an artificail kidney (hemodialyzer) is used to remove waste and extra chemicals and fluid from you blood. A good way to access the blood for this treatment is to use a fistula, a fistula is done surgically and it is where surgeons join an artery to a vein under your skin, and about six weeks later the arterial blood which is now flowing straight into the vein swells the vein, and also makes it stronger. My uncle and cousin had this and the sight of it made people