This morning I was thinking about all the people around the United States who are still waiting for their second chance at life....an organ transplant. In the 10 years of my transplant journey the list has grown from 76,000 candidates to 109,502 as of 2:15 pm EST today on the UNOS site. Many of the people on that list have been waiting quite a while. I was told my wait could be up to 4 years for a heart and lungs. I waited 2 years and 10 months-just short of 3 years so they were pretty close. The two organs in dire need are livers and kidneys. More people are waiting for those than any other organ category.
In a way I am lucky I got away with ambulance visits to my doctor and having to mix my own "live" medication each day. I wore it in a pack that had frozen packs to keep the live medication good. I was also tethered to a 50 foot line of oxygen tubing that connected me to 4 large liquid oxygen tanks. I would never want to be one of those who need kidney dialysis. Just hearing what the person goes through in dialysis would make me go crazy. Although to be fair, that can still be in my future. If I live long enough, the anti-rejection meds will have killed my kidneys and I will need a kidney transplant...such irony!
I have signed up to be a donor. Although my organs will never be used, it's my hope they can use my skin, corneas and such to help others. My organs are very healthy and have never seen a drop of alcohol or smoke but all the years of immunosuppresive therapy makes transplanting them a no no. I hope in the future that will change and medical science will find a way to make organs from deceased recipients viable for others to re-use. It's the ultimate in recycling!
For more info please go to: http://optn.transplant.hrsa.gov/
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