Donating an organ or tissue can potentially save the life of another person in need. Still, many people are afraid of the potential risks involved with organ donation and thus avoid the process altogether.
However, the benefits of organ donation outweigh any possible risks, so if you've ever thought about making this wonderful gift, here's what you need to know about how to go about it.
An
introduction to organ donation
Organ
transplantation is an important medical process
that has saved countless lives. Historically, there have been two significant
sources of organs: living donations and cadaver donations.
Living
donations occur when a person donates an organ to someone they know, such as a
relative or friend. Living donors can donate either one organ, such as a
kidney, or both kidneys, but cannot donate part of their liver.
Conversely,
cadaveric donations occur when organs are donated by people who have died.
Cadaveric donations usually come from brain-dead patients (also known as brain
death) who will never wake up from their coma.
What are
the Benefits of Organ Donation?
Organ
donation is a severe issue for many people in our society. After reading about
the benefits of organ donation, you may want to take action and explore your
options. Here are some things you will learn: A living donor liver transplant
can save one or two lives.
Even though kidney
transplants are usually only performed on recipients with kidney failure, a
living donor kidney transplant could still be lifesaving. Other points to
remember include that potential donors live their everyday lives with donated
organs and can donate their organs while living or after death.
If you know
anyone who might need a new heart, lung, liver, or kidney, please share this
blog post with them, so they know their options too!
The
process of becoming a donor
The liver is
one of your major organs and helps filter blood and control metabolism. People
can live without a liver as long as they have some way to get their blood
cleaned. Many risks can come with being a liver donor.
But it's important to know what those risks are before deciding whether or not you want to donate. A kidney transplant donor doesn't need much care after donating their kidney. They need to rest for a few days until the swelling goes down and avoid lifting heavy things so that their newly-healed kidney doesn't get pulled off track again.
Heart donations also have pros and cons, but donating is still
worth it because you're helping someone who needs your heartbeat for them to
live.
Things
you can do right now
It is easy
to find out more about whether you can donate organs by simply typing living
organ transplant donor or liver transplant donor into a search engine and
finding your needs.
Every year,
roughly one hundred thousand people are waiting for a donated liver, but due to
lack of awareness, only three thousand living liver donors are found. A person
who donates their organs at death can save up to eight lives.
How to
decide what organs you want to donate
If you're
wondering what organs you can donate, think about if there is a specific type
that you would like to give. You can select whether or not to donate your heart,
lungs, liver, pancreas, stomach, intestines, and small intestines.
Your doctor will help you fill out forms with what kind of organs you want to get donated and how many. One-half of all heart donors and one-quarter of all lung donors leave their names off the registration form so that family members can agree to save the parts too.
Some people
change their minds during donations because they initially wanted something
different or because their families disagreed.
How can you help someone in need?
There are so
many reasons to be a living donor. Not only do you save lives, but you also
allow someone to live a fuller life. Plus, as one of your body's major organs,
donating your liver is painless, and it's said that most patients recover fully
in as little as six weeks.
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