Transplantation of organs is one of the greatest achievements of science till now as these transplants save the life of people who are suffering from serious medical conditions.
Organ donation is a life-saving medical process that involves the removal of organs and tissues from someone who has died and transplantation of those into someone who is suffering from some serious medical illness or dying ("Organ and tissue donation", 2016). The organs that can be donated may involve lungs, heart, kidney, pancreas, bone tendons, skin & parts of the eye such as the cornea and liver.
The donor of one organ can transform the lives of 10 or more people ("Be an Organ Donor — givenow.com.au", 2016). It is important for you to decide whether to become a donor or not and share your feelings about this decision with your family and loved ones.
Anyone can become a donor and at any age ("Decide | Organ and Tissue Authority", 2016). The main determining factors for organ donation are where and how a person died and what the condition of the organ or tissue is. The age and medical history of the donor can be another factor, but you should not assume that you are too young or too old to become a donor. There are very few medical conditions like HIV that can prevent you to become a donor of your organs ("organdonor.gov | The Need Is Real: Data", 2016).
There are currently 1,21,678 people on the waiting list for organ transplants and 1,00,791 out of these are waiting for kidney transplants ("Organ Donation and Transplantation Statistics", 2014). In 2014, around 17,000 kidney transplants were performed in the US and of these 5,537 were live donors. You will be surprised to know that around 13 to 15 people die daily due to kidney failure and every 14 minutes, one patient is added to the kidney transplant waiting list.
You can help these people by donating the vital organs after you pass away. The donation of organs empowers us to save and enhance the lives of others. The organ donation not only changes the life of that person, but the whole family as well ("Top 5 Reasons You SHOULD Register to be an Organ and Tissue Donor", 2013).
The gift of life is the most promising gift you can give. After you are gone, there is no use of your organs and there is no reason to deprive others of using your organs if it will save their life.
References
Decide | Organ and Tissue Authority. (2016). Donatelife.gov.au. Retrieved 3 April 2016, from
http://www.donatelife.gov.au/decide
Organ Donation and Transplantation Statistics. (2014). The National Kidney Foundation. Retrieved 3
Transplantation-Stats
Organ and tissue donation. (2016). Healthdirect.gov.au. Retrieved 3 April 2016, from
http://www.healthdirect.gov.au/organ-and-tissue-donation
Be an Organ Donor — givenow.com.au. (2016). Givenow.com.au. Retrieved 3 April 2016, from
https://www.givenow.com.au/otherways/organdonor
organdonor.gov | The Need Is Real: Data. (2016). Organdonor.gov. Retrieved 3 April 2016, from
http://www.organdonor.gov/about/data.html
Top 5 Reasons You SHOULD Register to be an Organ and Tissue Donor. (2013). Donate Life NC.
Retrieved 3 April 2016, from https://www.donatelifenc.org/content/top-5-reasons-you-should-register-be-organ-and-tissue-donor
