Organ Donation
You could help 50 people if you decide to donate your organs and tissues:
Your heart could beat for someone else.
Your lungs could breathe for someone else.
Your
kidneys could free two people from
Dialysis.
Your liver could save the life of a patient Awaiting
transplantation.
Your corneas could give sight to two people.
Your bone could help repair other peoples’
Damaged joints.
Your skin could help heal many burn victims.
The Quiet
Hero
by Jack Burney
No ticker tape parades
for him,
No headlines glaring bold,
His name unrecognized by most,
His noble tale untold.
Yet, he it was who laughed at death,
His body ‘neath the knife,
To give to those he never knew,
The precious gift of life!
His lion’s heart still beats today,
In some now-living breast,
His lungs propel an athlete strong,
On her Olympic quest.
His eyes restore the long-lost sight,
Of an artist who’ll know fame,
His liver freed a boy of ten,
To play a baseball game.
The newsfolk hail the surgeon skilled,
The patient who’s still living,
But we know who the hero is:
The one who did the giving!
More than 53,000 people nationwide currently await a life-saving organ transplant and thousands are in the need of a life-enhancing tissue transplant. For many, the chance to live a full life won't come unless all of us consider organ and tissue donation. Discuss organ and tissue donation after worship with your family and friends. Your next-of-kin is responsible for following through with your wishes upon your death. Signing the back of your driver's license is not enough! It is important to discuss your wishes about organ and tissue donation with your family since they are the ones who will follow through on your wishes upon your death.
Donation Promise
I want my life to have meaning.
I want to make a positive impact on others when I die.
My decisions are my own.
And, they are educated choices about my life and death.
That’s why I’ve decided to donate my organs and tissues when I die.
So whether you feel the same way I do or not
Please follow my wishes.
Keep my promise close to your heart.
I give thanks for all who have touched my life
and hope that I can touch others through donation.
I want to help others through the gift of life.
I am signing a uniform donor card.
I’m sharing my decision with my family.
To Remember Me
The day will come when my body will lie upon a white sheet neatly tucked
under four corners of a mattress located in a hospital busily occupied with
the living and the dying. At a certain moment a doctor will determine that
my brain has ceased to function and that, for all intents and purposes, my
life has stopped.
When that happens, do not attempt to instill artificial life into my body by the use of a machine. And don't call this my deathbed. Let it be called the Bed of Life, and let my body be taken from it to help others lead fuller lives.
Give my sight to the man who has never seen a sunrise, a baby's face or love in the eyes of a woman. Give my heart to a person whose own heart has caused nothing but endless days of pain. Give my blood to the teenager who was pulled from the wreckage of his car, so that he might live to see his grandchildren play. Give my kidneys to one who depends on a machine to exist from week to week. Take my bones, every muscle, every fiber and nerve in my body and find a way to make a crippled child walk.
Explore every corner of my brain. Take my cells, if necessary, and let them grow so that someday, a speechless boy will shout at the crack of a bat and a deaf girl will hear the sound of rain against her window.
Burn what is left of me and scatter the ashes to the winds to help the flowers grow.
If you must bury something, let it be my faults, my weaknesses and all prejudice against my fellow man. Give my sins to the devil. Give my soul to God. If, by chance, you wish to remember me, do it with a kind deed or word to someone who needs you. If you do all I have asked, I will live forever.
By Robert N. Test
Coalition on Donation
1100
Boulders Parkway, Suite 500
Richmond, Virginia 23225-8770
phone 804-330-8620, fax 804-323-7343
Share your life. Share your decision is a simple, yet important description of how you can become an organ & tissue donor. This simple two-step process will help ensure that your personal desire to become a donor will be fulfilled.
Transplantation is one of the most remarkable success stories in the history of medicine. In most cases, it's the only hope for thousands of people suffering from organ failure, or in desperate need of corneas, skin, bone or other tissue. Tragically, the need for donated organs and tissues continues to outpace the supply. Right now, thousands of Americans could be helped if enough organs and tissues were available. Organ and tissue donation provides each of us with a special opportunity to help others. You can save lives by making the decision to be an organ and tissue donor.
Sharing your decision to be an organ and tissue donor with your family is as important as making the decision itself. At the time of death, your family will be asked about donation. Sharing your decision with your family now will help them carry out your decision later. A simple family conversation will prevent confusion or uncertainty about your wishes. Knowing that they fulfilled your wish to save other lives can provide your family with great comfort in their time of grief.
It is also helpful to discuss your reasons for supporting donation with members of your family. One way to start a family discussion is with the First Family Pledge. Donor cards may also serve as a reminder to your family and medical staff of your personal decision to be a donor. Carry it in your wallet or purse at all times and encourage other members of your family to do the same.
To get a donor card and a free brochure on organ & tissue donation and how to talk to your family about this important decision call 1-800-355-SHARE.
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