Source: Concord Monitor – As overdose deaths increase, so do life-saving organ donations
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Reblogged this on AS I LIVE & BREATHE and commented:
This is reblogged from my transplant buddy DAP, who has an excellent blog himself. I too came across this news item & feel pretty torn about it. While it’s good that the organs are being donated & useable, it is hard to accept organs that come to us in this manner when lives are cut short in this manner. While there are minimal risks, it’s encouraging to know even in a worst case scenario that HIV & Hepatitis have good drugs to treat them if they should develop down the line or somehow slip by testing. I was lucky that my first job was in a local nursing home where I was required to get Hepatitis B shots before I started work, so I have more protection than I generally would otherwise. If given the choice I would probably choose to accept such an organ if it were offered to me. But it is hard to think about the circumstances sometimes with the donation, it’s not always a “natural cause” that leads to the donation. Yet, I know it was well set into motion before I ever entered the picture. I’m not waiting for someone to die. I’m hoping that someone who died will regift their organs to me so I might live. No matter what the circumstance, I’ll always be grateful to my future donor & their family for allowing me to keep going.
great post. Had come across this too. I reblogged this today to my own blog (giving you credit) because I felt it was important to talk about.
It is important ….. my heart was deemed “high risk”as well as my donor had been exposed to Hep B & Hep C …….. my wife was offered the option to keep or pass …….. with an Ejection Fraction of 3% that day it was an easy choice. My team watched me closely for signs of Hep that first year – none developed, it’s been a great heart!