View Full Version : Organ Donor
mffjm8509
04-10-2010, 22:36
In November my wife received a life saving heart transplant. Below is a short video that she made to tell her story and promote becoming an organ donor as part of Donate Life Colorado's push during organ donor awareness month. Share the link if you like.
r/mp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vn9b0rXxwI
Fantastic video,
Best wishes to Beth and you..
Thanks for the reminder, It just went out to everyone on my email list.
JJ
PedOncoDoc
04-11-2010, 06:14
Glad to hear your wife is doing well. Send her my thanks for sharing her story.
An additional note: Talk to your family/next of kin about your intentions to be an organ donor. Regardless of your intentions, they wll need to give consent for organ harvesting for donation.
http://www.transplants.org/OrganTissueDonation.php
Red Flag 1
04-11-2010, 07:52
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mffjm8509
04-11-2010, 08:37
Great video and great outcome!!
I have a friend, retired Marine, on a bridge mechanical heart awaiting his transplant. He is in Richmond, VA @ MCV. Sending this clip his way!!
Thanks for posting this, and be well you two and your family!!
RF 1
All, Thanks for your posts and sharing of the video.
RF, Beth was on a BiVAD TLC 2 plus driver manufactured by Thoratec for 5 1/2 months. You can see pictures of the driver in her video and the drive lines running under her shirt are connected to canulas that entered the left side of her abdomen. All of her blood flow was controlled by the driver and her heart was set at 82 BPM. She now goes to see all of the new patients at UCH that are being placed on a BiVAD to counsel then and encourage them in their fight. She is really an inspiration!
r/Mike
So very glad to hear your wife is doing well, thanks for sharing this!
I've had my donor intentions on my DL for years now, and have told family members.
armymom1228
04-11-2010, 15:22
Glad to hear your wife is doing well. Send her my thanks for sharing her story.
An additional note: Talk to your family/next of kin about your intentions to be an organ donor. Regardless of your intentions, they wll need to give consent for organ harvesting for donation.
http://www.transplants.org/OrganTissueDonation.php
Fantastic Video. Give Beth my best!
We, here in Florida, have an option on our drivers license, for a designation that signifies us as organ donors. I have had mine there for the past 20 yrs. I figure if I am a goner, I cannot use this stuff and someone else can, more power to em! It is another reason I keep myself healthy and fit. The better I take care of me, and my insides, the more use they will be to someone who needs them after I don't.
Check with your home states and see if your drivers license can carry the organ donar designation.
GIVE THE GIFT OF LIFE!
AM
Team Sergeant
04-11-2010, 21:53
Very cool video, thanks for sharing! I've been an organ donor since I could drive and a bone marrow donor since I was in the military. Great programs!
Bill Harsey
04-12-2010, 07:29
Thanks for sharing the video and all the very best to your wife.
That is an amazing story.
I've been a registered donor for many years.
PedOncoDoc,
Good info.
PedOncoDoc
04-12-2010, 07:54
Families have trumped the organ donor designation on a driver's license - hence the need to discuss your intentions with your next of kin regardless.
Families have trumped the organ donor designation on a driver's license - hence the need to discuss your intentions with your next of kin regardless.
I worked on a transplant ICU for a few years and saw some amazing things there.
And you are right....families can intervene and "trump" the donation process. So speaking to them is inmportant. If there is any dissent things most likely will not work out as everything must move quicly for the obvious reasons. And rightfully so. The day organ donation is enforced is a bad day.
mffjm8509, wish your wife and yourself many more blessings to come-
greenberetTFS
04-12-2010, 10:12
Thanks for sharing the video and all the very best to your wife.
That is an amazing story.
I've been a registered donor for many years.
PedOncoDoc,
Good info.
I concur with Bill,God Bless Beth and You..........:):):)
Big Teddy
I've been an organ donor since I could drive and a bone marrow donor since I was in the military. Great programs!
Our family learned the hard way of the importance of registering as a bone marrow donor. Sometimes even family does not make a good match for a marrow transplant and the wait to find a match can truely be a killer. This procedure is no longer the painful one that it used to be and you truely will be a life saver to some one.
Joshua is a 2 tour Iraq War Veteran living in Tucson, AZ. In October of 2006, he became very sick, just three weeks before his tour was over. The military medevaced him out of the war zone and back to the U.S. for diagnosis and treatment. Joshua was sent to the Army Regional Hospital in Seattle WA where they diagnosed him with a rare autoimmune disorder. The only known cure is a bone marrow transplant so Joshua was put on the national registry with no match found out of approximately 6 million registered donors.
Complete story (http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/joshuaholden/mystory)
Register here (http://www.marrow.org)
15193
PedOncoDoc
04-12-2010, 11:51
Our family learned the hard way of the importance of registering as a bone marrow donor. Sometimes even family does not make a good match for a marrow transplant and the wait to find a match can truely be a killer. This procedure is no longer the painful one that it used to be and you truely will be a life saver to some one.
Complete story (http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/joshuaholden/mystory)
Register here (http://www.marrow.org)
15193
As both a recipient of, and physician overseeing, bone marrow transplants I second this wholeheartedly. With the availability of cord blood, suitable ("close enough") matches are becoming easier to find for people, but cord blood is of limited utility to grown adults. The best bet is to have as many people register as possible - just as with organ donation, exception being you can donate marrow and go home the same day - not so much for a heart.
I would also encourage donating blood for all those who are cleared to do so.
My $.02...
Masochist
04-12-2010, 12:28
As both a recipient of, and physician overseeing, bone marrow transplants I second this wholeheartedly. With the availability of cord blood, suitable ("close enough") matches are becoming easier to find for people, but cord blood is of limited utility to grown adults. The best bet is to have as many people register as possible - just as with organ donation, exception being you can donate marrow and go home the same day - not so much for a heart.
I would also encourage donating blood for all those who are cleared to do so.
My $.02...
While luckily I have not had the need for replacement organs, blood or marrow, I have had my OD sticker on every drivers license since my first and donate blood regularly since the first time they came to my high school gym Junior year. And I make sure to extol its values to those who don't.
This post has been great. Congrats to you and Beth, and I'll have to look more into bone marrow donation.
I would also encourage donating blood for all those who are cleared to do so.
My $.02...
And platelets, for cancer patients.
mffjm8509
04-12-2010, 17:43
And platelets, for cancer patients.
Great advice to all. In addition to organ and tissue, consider donating blood, platelets, and registering as a bone marrow donor. Beth used all of these resources when approaching transplant.
She had an unusually high PRA which made her unable to match 75% of the donor population. She also had received a large volume of blood product in her initial surgeries, (which also contributed to her high antibodies). The docs were concerned that she would be unable to accept platelets during transplant so they screened the bone marrow donor data base for matches that would volunteer to donate blood/platelets as well to help her through her transplant surgery.
Thanks again to everyone that has viewed her video, commented and sent me PMs. She received over 400 views this weekend and has entered it in a contest to win a donate life license plate here in Colorado.
r/Mike
Hey brother, Thank you for sending the wristband for me to wear to raise awareness and posting the video link here. We wish the best for you and yours for many great years to come! Dan
mffjm8509
04-14-2010, 08:15
FYI, for all of the active duty members on PS.com, you can now become an organ donor when you renew your Military I.D. Card. Keep that in mind if you havent renewed your drivers license in the past 25 years (Like me).
r/Mike
Masochist
04-14-2010, 10:23
FYI, for all of the active duty members on PS.com, you can now become an organ donor when you renew your Military I.D. Card. Keep that in mind if you havent renewed your drivers license in the past 25 years (Like me).
r/Mike
Very good point. They place the little "organ donor" graphic on the back just like some driver's licenses.