marcoujor: The Gift of Life in Death

marcoujor

After holiday thoughts...
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Christmas surely flew by this year...barely a blink and we are heading full speed ahead towards 2016...

With the season of charity and kindness alive in our minds, I thought I'd propose a slight variation on traditional gift giving.  This is a gift that lasts way longer ...

After reading this post, I am hopeful that you will have a better understanding of what the Gift of Life is and that you will consider signing up for organ and tissue donor registry.

When It's Your Time to Go

As a nurse, I have probably seen more death and heartache than I care to admit. With patients, we mourn as if we are family. With students, we feel everything our nurses feel, from all walks of the profession. With family, it aches as if we have forgotten everything we ever learned in school.

I believe my Mother, who was the greatest teacher of all, ultimately helped me realize that life could indeed come after death. Nine months after her death, we were blessed with a beautiful grand niece. Mom always stressed the hope after death and a gratitude for a life well lived, no matter how long in chronological years. She had a famous expression that went as follows: "When it's your time to go, it's your time to go".​

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Give the gift of life

There is an urgent need for organ and tissue donation in the United States today.

Did you know that 17 of 100 people could die today due to a lack of available donated organs?

Did you also know that just one donor could perhaps save 8 people and enrich the lives of another 50 with tissue donation? 

Doesn't it make sense to learn as much as possible about the Gift of Life program? There is a website detailing much valuable information at giftdonor.org

Should you wish to donate organs or tissue after death, it is imperative to clearly communicate your intentions to your loved ones. Ultimately, it is your family who will have the final consent at your time of death, when emotions can run high. These conversations become even more important for your family, who may not be able to think clearly in their grief. Signing your driver's license in the proper section will also indicate your desire to be an organ donor.

Your medical condition will determine the organs and tissues that could be donated at the time of death.

Donation would take place only after every effort had been made to save your life, as per your wishes, and death had been legally declared.

Examples of transplanted organs are the heart, liver, lungs, pancreas, kidneys and small intestines. Examples of tissues include heart valves, eyes, corneas, bones, skin, ligaments, blood vessels and tendons.

I believe seeing those examples is much more meaningful than the word organ or tissue. You can help someone breathe again with your lungs, You can help someone see again with your eyes. You can help someone walk and run again with your ligaments, bones and blood vessels. It is utterly staggering that we can be exponential heroes after our death, in helping others to live a better quality of life.

Through experience and further reading, I have learned that only the Gypsies and the Shinto traditions directly oppose organ and tissue donation. Even the Jehovah Witness folks would not be opposed, as long as all blood is removed from the organ or tissue before being transplanted.

Most religions do not have an issue with this. Many even fully support it as an ultimate act of neighborly love and charity. Yet only one-third of the available organ donors' families will actually give the Gift of Life!

Share your thoughts and this post (if you are inclined) with those you love. Please consider being an organ donor ~ thank you.

Other recent posts from the indie bloggers community are linked below for you.

Tiny Homes: Are they the future? via WarnerWords

Fun & Good For You: Tai Chi with Ron Weatherford via flashPress

Until next year, take good care of yourself... mar