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Get the Attention
Do you remember what is like to be a little kid and wanting something so bad you can hardly contain yourself? Do you remember what is like to want that new Doll advertised on TV, or that new car that is supposed to be better than any other toy car, or what about that newest video game everyone is talking about at school, except you because you don’t have it? I think we can all relate to how Ralphie felt on a Christmas Story, he only wanted one thing- An official Red Ryder Rifle, and he was willing to do anything he could to get it. I think we have all been guilty of using the phrase “I can’t live without…” Whether it has been as a kid with a toy or now with our cell phones.
Imagine always feeling and living this way. The feeling of desperation because there is only one thing you want, scratch that, only one thing you need, but you can’t have.
At the young age of eight, my cousin learned what is actually like to live like this. While other kids her age were writing their cards to Santa asking for the newest toy, she was praying she could get a new kidney. She had multiple visits to the hospital full of false hope, thinking this is the one, only to be told it wasn’t a good match. Almost a year passed before she found a good donor. Although, many consider her story to be tragic, she was actually lucky. Because unlike many people, she was lucky enough to find a matching donor on time.
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Every minute a new name is added to the waiting list for an organ donor, and while you may think this could never happen to you or any of your loved ones, it can.
Today I would like to talk to you about how you can become an organ donor and how the recipient benefits from the donation.
Establish the Need
Everywhere around the world is a need for organ donors, however, very few people are willing to do it. Anyone who is capable can donate anything from tissues such as the heart, pancreas, kidneys, liver, lungs, corneas, bone, skin, blood vessels etc. (“Iowa Statewide Organ”). Moreover, you can choose to donate all your organs or simply specify which ones you would like to donate.
Yet, the biggest problem is that there is an increasing number people who need an organ transplant, but a very low list of organ donors. According to life source, every sixteen minutes a new name is added to the national waiting list, and ten people die each day waiting for an organ because there are only 5,000 donors on average nationally per year (“Questions and Answers”).
Satisfy the Need
There are some things you can do to ensure that your organs are donated and to prevent another life being lost today.
First, you can talk to your family about your wish to donate your organs. It is very important to inform them of your decision as ultimately they are the ones who will be involved in the process when you die. Furthermore, it may be hard for them to make those decisions if a doctor comes and asks them, so if your wish to donate your organs was never communicated, they might never be carried out.
Secondly, and also very important, make sure that when you go get your driver’s license you mark that little box that indicates that you want to be an organ donor. In the end that box can mean so much and change the lives of multiple people.
Lastly, you can also obtain a uniform donor card which states the specific organs you want to donate and also gives you the option to place your friends or family as witnesses (Gundersen).
Visualize the Consequences
As you can tell tell the steps to become and organ donor are fairly easy. But not only that, the decision of becoming an organ donor has a great impact on more than just one recipient and on the lives of the ones around them.
According to the American transplant foundation, “One deceased donor can save up to eight lives through organ donation and can save and enhance more than 100 lives through the lifesaving and healing gift of tissue donation” (“Facts and Myths”).
That is one person saving the lives of eight people. Furthermore, imagine the happiness and the immense gratitude the family members will feel to know that their loved ones will survive.
Call to Action
Becoming a organ donor is the greatest gift you can ever give anyone, and is a gift that affects and benefits multiple people.
Today I told you how to become an organ donor and how this benefits the recipient. But if I want you to remember anything, it is that the person on that waiting list could not only be you but it can be your son, your brother or sister, your mom, your aunt, or your best friend.
But even if wasn’t one of your loved ones, that person on the waiting list is someone’s son, someone’s mom, or someone’s aunt. And if you can do anything to help them why wouldn’t you? Think of the satisfaction of saving someone’s live, imagine the gratitude this person may feel towards your family because you gave them the organ they need it to survive.
If your family loses you don’t let eight other families lose a person too, it is in your hands the decision to potentially take eight people off the waiting list.
