INSIDEYOURMIND -> RE: No Pain No Gain. (1/5/2005 8:11:07 PM)
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Dread, Thank you for the kind words. I am enrolled in the New England zone of the United States Health &Human Services Organ Donation Network. My registration number is 2104547. Heart transplant donations are a bit different than other organ donations. The heart does not have a shelf life, it must be harvested, and placed within a 4 hour window. The country is divided into zones, and then each zone has a specific group of hospitals that can receive hearts. While I appreciate the offer, and the sentiment in which it was given, a heart cannot be willed to a specific person, if it were, I think the murder rate might go up a bit! What you can do, and everyone else that chooses to be a donor should do, is make your family aware of your wish to be an organ donor. There are many states that even if you check organ donor on your license, if your family is not aware, or they decide not to, your organs cannot be donated. Organ donation is very tightly monitored to prevent people that may have better resources from receiving an organ that may be needed by someone less fortunate. My home state of Rhode Island last year just passed a law that makes the organ donation listing on your license, part of a state register of organ donors. If you are on the list, your family cannot overide your wishes. Check with your state, if the law is not in place, make sure your family knows your wishes. There is absolutely nothing fun about waiting for a transplant, all I truly have is hope that this heart will last until I am given what I consider a second chance at life. Here is a link to the official site www.organdonor.gov [image]local://upfiles/7331/DCC815D98C5C4CF1B26EA49E6EE8310A.jpg[/image] If you want to be a donor, you should get a card like this, keep it in your wallet, if you die and your family cannot be contacted immediately, this card will allow the harvesting of your organs, and the chance for other people to benefit from them. Each day about 70 people receive an organ transplant, but another 16 people on the waiting list die because not enough organs are available. That is the end of my public service announcement, I take you back to your original program which is continuing in progress!
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