Organ Donation...... Aye or Nay? :-,

Have you had a kindness shown?
Pass it on'Twas not given for thee alone, Pass it on
Let it travel down the years,
Let it wipe another's tears,
'Til in Heaven the deed appears …… Pass it on.-Henry Burton, Pass It On

I have always tried to be as generous as I can be, and if I had the means I would share everything I had with everyone I could. But that is not the case, all I can do is touch the few hearts that walk in and out of my life and try to make the most of my time while I’m alive.

“I love your shoes Tinda, they are sooooooo awesome!!!!” Someone says,   

“Do you want them?” I ask

“Are you kidding me? Don’t you like them?” someone asks,

“Of course I like them, but I think you like them and would appreciate them more” I answer.

That is the kind of person I am.

I have never seen the need of holding onto something I hardly use knowing that someone else would need it more. Hence the reason I registered myself as an organ donor. That was the quickest decision I ever made in my life.

I can not donate my whole cadaver to be pot on a cold metallic table and studied by students. I can not let my organs get pickled in jars for scientific studies. But I can let met heart beat in someone else's chest if need be and I can live with the thought of my kidneys filtering someone else's urine after having a nice drink. 

All I did was tick a few boxes and the next thing I knew I had received my donor card and a letter thanking me for taking the big step by deciding to donate my heart, lungs, liver, pancreas and kidneys (I refused to give up my brown eyes and by bum, those and the rest of me are MINE TO KEEP!)

                                    caption (Your eyes deserve a better afterlife. PLEDGE THEM)

Now according to some statistics.

• Each of us is 4 or 5 times more likely to find ourselves in need of a donated organ than to become an organ donor.
• 73% of us would accept a donated organ, yet 62% of us have not signed up for organ donation. 
• More than 40% of families refuse permission for donation of their loved ones organs.
• 69% are in favour of an opt-out system, with 31% unsure or with a clear wish to opt out. 

 Depending on the circumstances in which I will die, my organs might be donated to someone else…… Someone who has been on an organ waiting list due to an unpronounceable disease or a self inflicted ‘situation’ and is probably hoping that someone else will die so they can live.

I recently watched Will Smith’s ‘Seven Pounds’ and after seeing a representation of how desperate some really nice people were to stay alive, I knew that what I did was right. 

But unlike Will, I haven’t yet decided that my life is worthless and that someone else would make more use of what I have inside me.

This organ donating business is tricky you know…… There is the thought of whether or not my organs will be well preserved in death.

What if I end up rotting in a dump? Or toasted in some fire? What if I decide to drink a ‘cocktail’ that will make me sleep for good? Then my organs won’t be any good to anyone, right? ……. If my organs are going to play a role in giving someone else a second chance, they have to make sure that whichever way I die, they rush me into hospital in time for someone who is almost giving up on the wait.

Then I watched Mel Gibson’s ‘How I spent my summer holidays’ and thought to myself…… What if the liver I have taken care of all my life is attached to someone who has polluted and overworked their liver with alcohol? What if my precious lungs are given to someone who decided to make their lungs an internal chimney? And what if the heart I constantly take to the gym will end up with someone who will walk it into McDonalds and clog it with fat until it shuts down? (again?)

What good will I have done to give someone who couldn't take care of themselves a second chance? (sigh) of course I won’t have the chance to decide who my organs should go to before they lay me down and cut me up……. I had a conversation with my very special friend Sabina who told me that I can actually choose whom my organs go to. Her ideal candidate for her organs would be a vegan (who loves organic food, scented candles and yoga; and is ideally atheist "Waheeeeeeeeeeeey!"). Her worst candidate would be a Catholic butcher (LMFAO!).

I mean, the worst thing that can happen is for my organ to be donated to a racist, my ashes will literally turn in the urn if that happened; but I also fear that the person at the top of the list might be a present or future paedophile, junkie, murderer etc (you get my drift don’t you?).  But I won’t have the choice, will I?

All I can do is hope that any of my organs will be good enough for people who will make something good out of themselves and the people around them.

"Don't think of organ donation as giving up part of yourself to keep a total stranger alive.  It's really a total stranger giving up almost all of themselves to keep part of you alive."-Author Unknown