Dying can be a really scary subject. Losing a loved one is one of the hardest things we will deal with in our lives. But there is a way to make thinking about your own mortality easier for yourself, as well as your family: While estate planning is important to ensure your cherished family heirloom goes to your favorite niece, registering to be an organ, eye and tissue donor is just as essential to make sure your valuable organs are passed along to someone who really needs them.
LifeShare Oklahoma is a federally authorized, non-profit organization tasked with arranging and procuring organ and tissue donation for the state of Oklahoma. One donor has the ability to save up to eight lives through organ donation and affect as many as 75 lives through tissue donation. President and CEO of LifeShare, Jeff Orlowski, explained: “Hospitals are obligated by Medicare to notify us any time a patient passes away in their facility. We then evaluate if there is potential for donation.” This occurs whether or not you have registered as a donor.
If you are on the registry, a representative from LifeShare will sit down with your family to answer questions and help them understand the process of donation. If you are not on the registry, your family is then forced to make another difficult decision during their time of grief.
Orlowski emphasized the gravity of talking with your family about your decision to be a donor.
“It is really important for your family to know your wishes,” he said. “It provides a great source of comfort for the family and gives you the opportunity to leave a legacy.”
There are a few negative rumors swirling around organ donation that Orlowski took the time to debunk. One of the questions LifeShare hears most frequently is regarding the care they one will receive from medical professionals if they are a registered donor. Orlowski said, “If you are involved in an accident, a doctor’s number one priority is to save your life. The team providing lifesaving care and the team involved in donation and transplant are completely separate.” Basically, no one in the hospital is going to benefit from you dying, and they will continue to work as hard as possible to ensure that does not happen.
The second misconception LifeShare hears is someone thinking they may not be in good enough health to be a donor. Orlowski said, “Nearly everyone can donate something. The oldest donated liver I was personally involved with was 93, and we have transplanted lungs from a 78-year-old patient. I have seen transplanted kidneys from patients in their early 80s. It really is true that age is just a number.”
He notes that there have even been donors who were once transplant recipients themselves. “They may have had a liver transplant, but their heart and kidneys went on to help someone else. We are going to look at the total picture and evaluate each organ to determine what they can donate.”
With more than 800 Oklahomans and over 100,000 people nationwide waiting on a lifesaving transplant, please consider joining the registry to Donate Life. It is the greatest legacy you can leave.
