Organ DonationThe greatest gift of life

Rafael Chunga Quispe

Meet Gavin

My name is Gavin. I am 11 months old. I was born with a genetic disorder called Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency that caused my liver to go into failure. I was misdiagnosed for 3 months and underwent emergency surgery before they found out what was wrong. I am on the Organ Donation List and am waiting for my "gift of life" so I can have a liver transplant.

Gavin is not with us today

“It is our deepest sorrow to inform you that Gavin passed away while waiting to receive a liver transplant. He was only 14 days away from his 1st birthday.”

What is organ donation?

Organ donation is when you allow your organs or tissues to be removed and given to someone else. Most donated organs and tissues are from people who have died. But, a living person can donate some organs. Blood, stem cells, and platelets can also be donated.

“Donation is possible while alive and after death”

Organ donors will save many lives

According to the National Kidney Foundation, many patients die before they can find a donor (2001).

1. 2,025 kidney patients

2. 1,347 liver patients

3. 458 heart patients

4. 361 lung patients

5. The Miami Herald states that, in total, over 6,000 patients die each year while waiting for organs that never come (Lamas 3E).

The United Network for Organ Sharing states that over 80,000 patients are currently waiting for transplants.

1. 10,489 transplants occurred from January to May 2003.

2. 5,390 donors made those transplants possible.

Organ donors will save many lives

Germaine Allen, age 29, was lucky

She suffered two cardiac arrests due to kidney failure.

For five months she was in a near coma.

From 2000, she was on a waiting list with 450 other people.

4. Today, after a transplant at Jackson Memorial Hospital, the odds are she will live a normal life for at least 18-20 years (Lamas 3E)

As an individual, you can save many lives (National Womenâ �s Health Information �Center).

Your organs could save as many as six lives.

Your organs could help as many as 50 other people

Don’t let myths prevent you from donating.

You don’t have to be young and healthy to donate.

The National Kidney Foundation says people over 65 years of age make good donors.

Among the organs they can provide are corneas, skin, and bone.

If needed, your family can prevent you from donating.

Families prevent donations about 35% of the time (National Kidney Foundation).

Be sure your relatives know you want to donate

Don’t let myths prevent you from donating.

Donated organs do continue to work for a long time.

The National Kidney Foundation gives the one-year survival rates for transplants:

▪ Patients who receive kidneys from live donors survive 97.7% of the time.

▪ Patients who receive livers survive 86.9 % of the time.

▪ Patients who receive hearts survive 85.8% of the time.

▪ Patients who receive lungs survive 75.8% of the time.

Bone marrow and kidney transplants are among those issues that can be given by live donors.

Who cannot be an organ donor? People with certain medical conditions cannot

donate an organ. This includes people with:

HIV Actively spreading brain cancer Certain severe, current infections

In some cases, if you have another disease or chronic medical

condition, you can still donate your organs.

Religious viewpoints

Most religions, among them the Roman Catholic Church, support organ donation on the grounds that it constitutes an act of charity and provides a means of saving a life, although certain bodies, such as the pope's, are not to be used.

Orthodox Judaism considers organ donation obligatory if it will save a life, as long as the donor is considered dead as defined by Jewish law

Organ Donors arround the world

You can easily sign a living will The National Institutes of Health identifies many organizations that can accept a tissue donation.

American Red Cross

Eye Bank Association of America

National Marrow Donor Program

National Organ and Tissue Donation Initiative

United Network for Organ Sharing

You can obtain a donor card from the American Medical Association (show Uniform Donor Card).

You need to be 18 years of age.

You need to have the card with you at all times.

You must tell your family you want to donate your tissues and organs.

You can easily sign a living will You will be a part of a growing number of Americans who plan to share themselves to save

other lives.

In Louisiana alone, the Times-Picayune reports that donors have increased from 400,000 to 800,000 since 1999.

The Sun-Sentinel tells us why donating is especially important for minority citizens:

“One-third of the 56,578 Americans waiting for kidney transplants are black. And one-quarter of

the estimated 6,350 people who died waiting for a new organ last year were black.”

“Gift for Gavin” is today “Gifts from Gavin”

Gavin was on earth to make change your thinking

“You may be one life to the world but you could be the world to one life”.

Anonymous

Thanks