an essay by Ray Riemenschneider about Organ Donation

Your palms are shaking, sweat dripping from every pore, your pulse is racing, and the doctor just told you the news. “You have an organ failing and if you don’t get a new organ you may die”. What are you going to do? It’s sad to say this phrase is being muttered to thousands of people everyday. Society is in dyer need of organ donations, and blood for ill patients. Some of the ways you can help these patients is by donating blood, donating a solid organ, or the easiest way becoming a donor when you become deceased. The severity of help ranges from slight discomfort to moderate discomfort. Honestly, wouldn’t you want to help free a loved one from the prison their medical issues sentenced them to?
 
So you can’t do it because you can’t “afford” to take time away from work or miss out on one paycheck. Did you know most patients have medical insurance that cover your medical expenses in the hospital if you choose to donate an organ? Most insurance’s will pay for the surgery, hospital stay, and post transplant check ups. Did you also know if you choose to donate an organ that can also be used as a tax write off? I know it’s a cheap thing to say but some people will only donate an organ if they get something materialistic out of it. I’d hope if you chose to do this it would be for the right cause and not just to better your financial situation. Whether it is to help someone for your own self indulgence, or to gain a little extra income, this is easily a “win, win” situation.

Now I know your wondering what organs can and can’t be donated when your alive. One of the easiest things you can donate over and over and over again is your blood. It is one of the most painless things you can do to help thousandths of patients. Different parts of your blood can be used for different medical conditions and ailments. A little more risqué procedure is donating your kidney or liver. Healthy individuals are born with two functioning kidney’s. Sometimes diseases or infections can damage the kidney’s ability to function properly ultimately resulting in kidney failure. Without any working kidneys your body is unable to filter out toxins from your blood which would result in a slow painful death. To say the least you would be poisoned by your own body or slowly drown inside your own skin. The only two things to save a person from this certain death would be giving them a new kidney or placing them on dialysis. Dialysis is an artificial way to filter the blood from the toxins built up in your blood stream. Did you know that only one functioning kidney is needed to sustain a healthy lifestyle? So you’re afraid that you need both kidneys just in case one gives out. Not to worry, you can still help a chronically ill patient live. Have you ever thought about donating your liver? I know your probably thinking “Wait a minute, I only have one don’t I need that one to live”? Of course you do, but here’s the interesting part. Your liver can grow back after an organ donation. When you donate your liver they take about thirty fiver percent and place it in the donors’ body. After a few months your liver should start to grow back to its original size. So the blood, needles, and pain aren’t your thing? If not, maybe you’d be a better candidate to become a donor when you’re deceased. It’s the easiest and most painless way to become an organ donor. If you’re an organ donor when you’re deceased you can help about seventy patients with organs that can be donated. Talk about a gift that keeps on giving long after you’re gone.

Pain, it’s something that is in everyone’s vocabulary. To many this word screams emotions or physical strain. Of course with any surgical procedure there will be pain. Depending on the procedure you choose the amount of pain will differ from very slight to severe pain. Luckily, there are medications to help ease the pain you may experience. Most people think they know what true pain is but they will never know until they look into a child’s eye who is chronically or terminally ill that’s needing that one special person to come forward and donate a piece of themselves to save them from a death sentence. Just take a deep breath and imagine a small child dying of kidney failure starring back into your eyes. Have empathy and put yourself in that child’s situation. The tubes dangling from their necks, the medications they constantly have to swallow, the feeling of not knowing if they will wake up tomorrow. Can you honestly look that child in the face and tell them sorry I can’t do this because I’m scared of pain, I just can’t afford it? Does that even compare to a child who is in constant mental and physical pain? So you want to help someone but you don’t want the recognition, not to worry you can donate an organ anonymously. I know from experience that sometimes this is the best option especially if you can’t handle the emotional rollercoaster if your organ begins to reject in the patients body. Will you be that anonymous angel many are praying for?


“I can’t do it, it’s too risky, and it costs too much money”. That’s probably a few things that pop up in your conscious when the phrase “organ donation” gets tossed around. The pain is too much for you to endure? Do you really even know what pain is? Have you ever looked into someone’s eye’s that is in need of an organ donation? Did you see their dreams, fears, and soul? Have you ever went to bed night after night wondering if you were ever going to ever see the sun glisten through your window wakening you to the dew upon your window? Have you ever cried because people teased you by the looks strewn upon your face, a monstrous looking creature molded by taking medications for years? Have you ever prayed for death to have it never show its pale blue face? I know that feeling because that is me along with thousands of other patients.

You’re still undecided about whether to become an active organ donor or not. All I have to say is “imagine if it were your kids starring you back with that sad face asking, mommy, daddy, am I going to die? Will I be saved?” So if you do choose to become an organ donor remember some of they ways you can help someone is by donating blood, donating an organ, or becoming a donor when you become deceased. If you’re serious about wanting more information and taking the steps to becoming an organ donor contact your local hospital and request information on how to become a donor. You hold the key to life to someone who is in need. Will you be the key to free some sick patient from their death sentence?