Welcome Back!
This is a bit of a different post to what I normally do on here, as I’m sure you know if you come here often (which I hope you do)!
I wanted to do a post about how important and beneficial – both to you and to people around you – to join the Organ Donor Register.
Pretty much all countries have one, it takes less than five minutes to join and you could save somebody’s life who desperately needs a healthy organ to survive!
Personally, I’ve been on the Organ Donor Register for three years, as I joined when I was 16. It never crossed my mind to NOT be a part of this register. After all, I won’t need my organs when I’m dead, but one of my organs could mean someone else could get their whole life back – to me that is one of the most AMAZING things that you could give to someone, just by registering.
There are currently 6,500 people waiting for transplants in the United Kingdom alone. I can’t even begin to think how large that number is if you combine every single country in the world. You may not think it, but just having the ability to save ONE of those many lives, without having to do anything to hinder you or your life, is such an incredible thing.
Of course, you are able to donate while you are alive if you so wish. There are registers specifically set aside to be a living donor of Organs such as Kidneys. As well as this you can be a donor of blood and you can also donate your bone marrow while you are alive, in order to help blood cancer patients.
In the UK three people die every day as a result of the danger that waiting for a suitable organ puts you in. If you weigh up that figure against the 1000+ people who die every day in the UK, you can see the faster rate at which people would be able to find a suitable organ, if there were more people on the Organ Donor Register.
I honestly think that joining this register is something everybody should do. With all the hurt and the suffering in the world today, think of the smile you could put on someone’s face if one of your organs was a match for them!
There is a lot more information on Organ Donation (in the UK), both living and after you have passed away, on the NHS Organ Donation Website: www.organdonation.nhs.uk
For more info on Blood donation you can go to – www.blood.co.uk and for information on Bone Marrow donation go to www.nhsbt.nhs.uk/bonemarrow.
Other Links:
USA Organ Donation
Canada Organ Donation
Australia Organ Donation
New Zealand Organ Donation
Thank you for reading this, I hope it will make some of you consider signing up to be a donor. It really is one of the most rewarding things you can do, even if, inevitably, you aren’t around to see the reward with your own eyes.
Until next time.
