Give the Gift of Life: Organ Donation Awareness

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The BlogCatalog Community is calling bloggers to help increase awareness about the need for organ donors. This is a matter that touches me deeply and I am therefore happy to blog for the cause.

In 1997 I got a call that changed my life. I was living in Atlanta doing well working at FedEx. A call from California telling me my dad was in the hospital pierced my heart. I hopped on a FedEx plane and got home as quick as I could. My dad had been battling hyper tension for years. Doctors tried managing his blood pressure with various medications to no avail. He was diagnosed with kidney failure and required dialysis 3 days a week…or a transplant.

I moved to California and went through the work up to donate my kidney. I was a perfect match! However a chest x-ray revealed some strange blurry inexplicable spots in my lungs. The spots were still there after a second x-ray I was referred to a lung specialist who insisted upon a lung biopsy. (The most painful experience I’ve ever gone through in my life). The results were devastating…My perfect match kidney was disqualified because I was diagnosed with systemic sarcoidosis.

My dad was stuck on the kidney transplant waiting list…he waited five years for a kidney, he went blind while waiting, he lost mobility while waiting, he caught phnemonia while waiting, his heart was over worked while waiting, he had a heart attack while waiting…a few days after his funeral a matching kidney came available…He Died While Waiting.

I miss my dad. This month marks 5 years since his death. I wonder how many other kidney failure patients have died while waiting for a kidney. We only need 1 kidney to live most of us are walking around with two, few of us are willing to GIVE up one for someone else to live.

I often wonder had the kidney come available sooner how different things would be. Perhaps my dad would’ve been able to walk me down the aisle when I got married. Maybe he would’ve had a whole new happy life.

Would you be willing to give the gift of life? Someone some where needs a kidney, bone marrow, liver etc… do you have it to spare?

Register with your state donor registry.

DonateYourKidneys.Org web site has been launched to raise awareness about organ donation and provide potential donors with information on how to become a donor. It provides a discussion platform, which allows organ donors, recipients and their families to share their feelings and experiences.

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• Charitable Giving