"Sharing Life"-- California
Transplant Donor Network volunteer orientation seminar
(Translated by Donna Juan, Northern California)
The California Transplant Donor Network
held a volunteer orientation seminar entitled "Sharing
Life" at the Tzu Chi Northern California Chapter office.
It gave all of the attendees a new look at organ donations.
Organ donations by one person can save the
lives of six people. In the United States, thirteen to fifteen
people on the waiting list die every day because they do not
get an organ transplant in time.
Remember that little donor card that came
with your driver's license? Have you ever discussed it with
your family? Let us say that a person has an accident and
dies after all medical recourse has been exhausted. Bereaved
family members typically are in such pain that hardly anyone
even thinks about donating the organs of their loved one.
If one indicates on the donor card one's wish to donate some
or all of one's organs or tissues, there could be as many
as fifty beneficiaries.
If the blood supply to the brain is stopped
and the brain and the nerve system stop functioning, brain
death is normally declared. A person in this state has no
pain or feeling. But his/her organs and tissues, if donated,
can still be kept "alive" through medical means
and used to save lives. The beneficiaries of these donations
are typically decided by the degree of urgency and objective
criteria such as medical compatibility (blood type, organ
type, weight and height, etc.). This is a most noble and valuable
gift, and not a transaction based on financial gain.
With the advance of medical techniques,
organ transplants have given more people a second chance for
life. In this "Sharing Life" meeting, there were
two people who had received heart transplants, three with
liver transplants, and two with kidney transplants. They were
given new life because of the love of the donors. They have
experienced the painful struggle with death and, with a grateful
heart, were here today to share their stories.
Floyd said he cried every day for a year
and a half after his liver transplant because he was so grateful
to the donor.
Paul recounted how he had suffered from
a long-lasting disease as he went in and out of the hospital.
One day after the transplant, he was driving on the highway.
Seeing cars passing swiftly by, he wondered to himself how
they could pass him by without knowing that he had been given
a new life. He wanted very much to shout, "I'm alive,
I'm alive!" At the meeting, he showed pictures of himself
before and after the transplant and a picture of his doctor.
He was very grateful to all those who had saved his life.
Joe is waiting for a second kidney transplant.
Five years ago his daughter donated a kidney to him, but it
has become inflamed. His appetite is poor and he is undergoing
dialysis. He apologized to his wife, who was with him at the
seminar.
Bill had a heart transplant fifteen years
ago, when there were still very few organ transplants. At
that time his wife had to work while looking after him, and
it was almost always midnight when she left the hospital to
go home. She remembered the unbearable helplessness she felt,
and she said she would like to help other families get through
this difficult phase in life. She believed the support and
care from the family help the patient's recovery process,
but family members also need the same care and support.
Ann contracted diabetes when she was very
young, and her long-suffering kidney desperately needed a
replacement. One day, she had a severe nosebleed that elevated
her priority and she got a kidney transplant. When she had
recovered, she was able to locate the donor's mother and found
that the donor was an eighteen-year-old girl. This donor's
mother founded a scholarship for low-income families after
the death of her daughter, and Ann became a sponsor of the
scholarship and a member of the donor's family.
In California, one third of the patients
on the waiting list for organ transplants are Asian. Asians
are four times more likely to have high blood pressure than
other ethnic groups. High blood pressure often leads to kidney
disease, which, if severe, may call for a kidney transplant.
Asian patients have a higher possibility of survival if the
organs come from people of the same race, because the organs
are more compatible.
Over the years, Master Cheng Yen has promoted
organ donor awareness. We hope, through this seminar, to raise
awareness among the Asian community.
