The
Importance Of
Organ Donation
by Mary Prange
Every 16 minutes a new name is added to the national organ transplant waiting list. There are currently 53,000 patients waiting. This information is from the UNOS - United Network for Organ Sharing - web page.
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I am writing this article because the subject of organ donation is very important to me because, guess why? I had to have a liver transplant last April and if it wasn't for some wonderful people who had agreed to donate the organs of their loved one, I'd be dead right now and not typing this article.
I also want to say how grateful I am for our union insurance! Without that, I'd be dead too. And I got one of my liver doctors (he has a long title), Dr. Share, by being referred to him by the Westside Health Center - one of the Motion Picture Health Plan's clinics. He referred me to everyone else.
I didn't know until January 1997 that I needed a transplant. I hadn't been living the most healthy lifestyle but I certainly thought I was a lot healthier than some other people I knew and up until January or so, I felt pretty good. I certainly hadn't done anything to harm my liver in about 20 years... but the damage was done.
In my research, I found out that in 1996 almost 1,000 people died waiting for liver transplants. They don't have the statistics for 1997 yet. More than 9,800 people are waiting for livers in this country right now!
It's really sad when someone dies but the people who saved my life at least must know that part of their son still lives on - only now he's part of me. Yes, that's right! I have a young boy's liver.
If you're thinking of being a donor or know someone who is thinking of being one, be sure they tell their family members of their desires. Even though the information is on a person's drivers license (if they have one) the survivors have to approve the donation. So tell them what you want.
The Internet has all kinds of information about transplants and donors. They tell you even things about how the donors body will look after they remove the organs at burial and for viewing; and how different religions feel about it. It's all good news.
I'm back to work now and doing great. It's only a month-long job but it's my first one since the surgery and I passed the working-until-ll pm test!
By the way, before my surgery, I'd been told that afterwards, I'd have to take drugs forever so I wouldn't reject my new liver. Almost everyone made it sound like a really big deal. I do have to take drugs everyday but in such small amounts it's hardly a bother at all and I don't feel any side effects. I used to take more vitamins daily!
I know it's not something we ever want to think about but now that I'm alive again, and I really almost died in the hospital, I'm grateful someone gave me a new liver so I can stay here. If the tables were turned, I'd certainly have given mine to save someone else if there was no way to save me. And when I die, I want to be a donor too. They say no matter how old you are they can find something someone else needs.
My good friend Ben, I've known him for 23 years, had a liver transplant at Cedars nine months before me. He was able to share his experiences with me and we both have other friends who have been recipients of transplants. We are all doing great and happy to talk to anyone who's worried about going through it.
Also, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where Ben and I had our transplants (by the same surgeon and everything - by coincidence), has a terrific liver team . They have a support group for those waiting and people recovering. There is a lot of emotional support for those who want it.
So, I hope this article helps to encourage you to think about donating your organs or those of someone you are responsible for. It's a really good thing to do. At least I think so.
Writing this article made me very grateful and I think I have the youngest liver in our union too! I'm the bionic woman (sort of).
April 19-24 was National Organ and Tissue Donor Awareness Week. For more information on organ donation call 800-786-4077.
Mary Prange is an assistant editor on the Guild's Board of Directors.
Reprinted from
The Motion Picture Editors Guild Newsletter
Vol. 19, No. 3 - May/June 1998
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