Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Share and Share Alike
I've been on a 2 month hiatus. Thanks for emails of concern but things are well. My work responsibilities changed during April. No longer am I the Chaplain for Chemical Addictions or Mental Health. I now work with the "general" population of the hospital. With tongue in cheek I state, "I work with 'healthy' sick people". Please, no emails about my insensitivity as it is not accurate. Being in a Medical Center/ hospital one develops a droll, morbid sense of humor.
Anyway, this is not what I am addressing. Let's talk about the needs of thousands of people who could benefit from thousands of people. Thousands of people think its a good thing but not for them. The issue is organ donation. Click on the 'title' above for the national website for organ recovery. Then click on the link below for a touching tribute.
http://www.donormemorial.org/tribute.asp?id=704
As of today there are 99,371 people on the waiting list to receive an organ or organs. By all estimates it would take nearly 50,000 donors to meet the needs of recipient patients. This means that every month there would need to be 4,160 donors. This year, at the end of February, there have been 2,287 donors or about 1,143 per month. This will possibly meet the needs of 53,652 people.
Do you see the discrepancy? Do you see the need to be generous with more than time and money? I am an organ donor per my driver's license and encourage you to be one as well. Because we are about 75% short of needed donors every year. This is a little more than 37,000 people.
The amazing thing is this. And this may be difficult to understand by the above numbers, but for every donor eight recovered organs are possible and this does not include eyes and tissues. As many as eight needy people can be benefited, saved from early death by one generous individual.
Ooh, how morbid. Why talk about dead people and transplants and all that creepy stuff?
Why? Because people need to get motivated and if just one of you decided to be a donor or convince another to be, then we are eight lives closer to survival. The gift of life to eight others because of one's gift.
Why? Why do I broach this topic? Because it is personal. Someday I will be an organ recipient candidate and I don't really desire to be on a waiting list much less for months or years.
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