Articles from prior issues of The Advocate

September/October, 1997

An Alternative to Organ Donation
by Anne Graham, NADE Secretary

THE PROBLEM WITH DONATION OF bodily organs that are vitally needed by individuals with serious medical problems is that the donor must be deceased. So organ donation, a marvelous concept, loses much of its appeal. We all realize that no one gets out of this world alive, but thinking about one’s own death is not on anyone’s top ten list, even David Letterman’s on a bad night.

Fortunately, many of us CAN be donors of other lifesaving things and be around to tell the tale. What we have in our bodies that we can donate is our blood. The need is perhaps even greater than that for organs. Each of us has many pints of blood in our body, and when any blood is lost, it is quickly replaced. It comes in different types, A, B, AB, O with RH factor positive or negative in each category.

Many people say they are “unable” to donate, but often they are “unwilling” as they have a fear of needles. Even those with a good bit of medical savvy wouldn’t dream of voluntarily subjecting themselves to this bizarre, painful ritual. Perhaps it is time to reconsider. A needle in your arm can save a life just as much as a donor heart can. It may not be as dramatic or newsworthy, but it gets the job done.

The most sought after blood type is O negative as anyone with any of the other types can receive it with no difficulty. Because of this, it is used in emergency rooms when there is insufficient time to type blood before transfusing. It is also used extensively in treating newborns.

My blood is just plain old A positive. Since I was a pretty regular donor, the nurse one day convinced me to become a pheresis donor. They encourage pheresis because they get as many platelets in one pheresis donation as they would in eight regular donations. The platelets are often used for individuals undergoing cancer therapy.

For those of us who would like to donate our organs at the point in the far distant future when we no longer need them, great! In the meantime I suggest the donation of blood, especially if you have never tried it. You get a free blood pressure reading, evaluation of the iron level in your blood, and a test for HIV infection. You get to lie down for a while, have the attentions of a nice nurse, and have a guilt-free snack of juice and “Famous Amos “ chocolate chip cookies--or raisins, if you are truly a noble human being. For pheresis donors, you have the added thrill of watching a video--like “Pretty Woman”, or watching TV, maybe a talk show which makes you feel great because compared to the bizarre problems they are talking about, your life is fantastic.

Try donating blood; you might like it.