Donating Your Organs

[jshaw]

Been registered for donations since 1982 - us atheists don't have to worry about rocking up anywhere with bits missing. Also used to donate blood regularly but when I came down here I got told "we don't want your nasty, BSE-riddled foreign blood". No convincing them that I'm very unlikely to have BSE as I've not eaten a cow since 1988 - if you were in the UK you can't donate. Still, seems they're happy to have my nasty, BSE-riddled, foreign internal organs. Whatever, if it does somebody some good... Wongo, I'm veggo and I've got a cat - should I put you on the exclusion list just in case?

[Wongo]

Wongo, I'm veggo and I've got a cat - should I put you on the exclusion list just in case?

Yes please, I want the good ones only.

[ernknot]

I am going to donate my bum et all to the tax man, he's been up there so often I reckon he owns it!

[aljenit]

I recon there should be a box on your drivers license application/renewal that you have to tick if you DON"T want to donate organs - as oppose to if you do. People are too lazy to tick the donate box.

I worked in a kidney transplantation ward for a couple of years and some countries, eg SPAIN have an opt out rather than opt in system for organ donation. I'm with you it's a good idea
If you don't donate it's just offal

[meerkat]

haven't registered for the organ donation but the wife does know that i don't have a problem and certainly won't need them (whether anyone wants them is a dtfferent story).

Have registered with the bone marrow registry thought, worth doing. The best thing with that is that you are still alive after the donation to feel good about it.

http://www.abmdr.org.au/enroll.htm

Andrew

[TritonJapan]

I am registered for bone marrow and organ donation in Australia as well as in Japan.

What is often in higher need, though less glamorous is blood.

To do a liver transplant, about 70 units of blood are needed if nothing goes wrong. (this is going back a bit, so the figures could be out)

We love to complain about paying too much tax, the hospitals not having enough beds and government wasting our money.

The more people that give blood, register for bone marrow donation and organ donation, the less time kids with leukaemia, patients waiting for transplants and road accident or other trauma victims will need to wait for their chance at life.

Like most of us, it took the death of a young girl in my home town to show how real these things are.

Getting back to our tax, every day sooner that a patient is cured, fixed or patched up, is one less day they are in hospital. The mathematics are astounding as to number of days by cost per day by number of patients. Next time you listen to talk back radio and hear the complaints about budget shortfalls, ask how many of us are donating our pint of blood?

I have a condition called haemochromatosis or something like that, so I am at the other end. For a while there I had to donate blood weekly to get the iron levels down. Was tempted to binge on steak so I could set some new donation record. Cholesterol put a stop to that.

From a right wing capitalist perspective, it saves money.
From a socialistic perspective, it saves lives.
It is the apathetic perspective that is the one to watch out for. Though giving blood or registering to be a donor is pretty easy, it is easier not to do it.

Ask your mates if they are registered. If not, why not? If not, when?

Steve

[Schtoo]

I missed this, but I can't vote as none of the choices fit me.

Can you make a "if they don't take them, I'll come back and haunt them!" option please?

Anyone who can sign for me when I go knows that they can take anything they can use, no matter where it happens.

No brainer for me.

Mum's had someone else's kidney for 16 years now.

Don't know who it was that donated it exactly, but they are a saint and I thank you.

But, also know of many who aren't here because there aren't enough spare parts to go around.

Nice to know that the father of three, nicest guy you could possibly meet, etc, etc is no longer here because someone decided it was too icky or they were too ignorant to consider passing on their organs that they or a loved one could no longer use.

To all of you who say yes, thanks.

Someone like you let me keep my mum.


P.S. Greenies all round to anyone who ticked the yes box.

P.P.S. Will hunt down anyone I missed soon.

[Rookie]

Already done. It's so much nicer to do it when you're still alive because then you can forever tell the person who you helped, how they should be eternally grateful and buy you tools every Christmas. My sister's got my kidney (the worse one. Wasn't giving away my good one), and I remind her every single time I see her what a wonderful human being she has for a brother. She's getting a bit sick of that though. Keeps threatening to give it back.

To not see your sister on a dialysis machine every day because of me is a feeling that cannot be replaced by any other emotion anywhere in the world. Trust me.

Anyone who hasn't decided, go and register. Also, tell your loved ones and family your wishes, basically anyone who's likely to be around you when you die.

But don't wait until you're dead.........oh...except for the vital parts

[HoutBok]

I would be a hypocrite if I didn't donate. I am walking arround with someone else's cornea - not that it helped much the eye is still blind (but a great excuse for poor parking, crooked cuts etc.).My family is well aware that my bits are up for grabs - if there is someone desperate enough to need such worn-out and abused organs.

[Wood Borer]

A mate is in hospital waiting for a liver transplant.

I heard my mate received his new liver and is now on the road to recovery.

Thankyou to the thoughtful person who saved Neville's life. He will be gracing us with his wonderful fine woodwork very soon hopefully.

[meerkat]

hey Wood Borer,

thats fantastic news, another example of selflessness helping others out.

Andrew

[Wood Borer]

Thanks mate.

Hopefully by spreading the word there can be further good news for others in this sometimes sad world - caused by selfishness.

[Shedhand]

A message to Zed:

With missing organs, you are most likely to get a new body when you get reincarnated. Think outside the square mate.

Another message to Zed...sorry to disappoint you but there's nothing mate, only fat hungry worms and what a waste. I'm donating anything that still works and the University is getting whats left. (they pay for the funeral service). What I would really to have happen with my poor old cadaver is to be frozen and sliced in to miniscule wafers by a beautiful Lei Neilson plane. now that WOULD be cool.

[Greg Q]

I heard it described in some movie thus: Someone else is donating ALL of their body just to keep a small part of YOU alive..

Greg