Transplant Headlines

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Red Tape Hampers Organ Donation
From the Korea Times

"Korea's roots in Confucianism, which holds a dim view toward harm to the body even as a corpse, has served as a main obstacle to organ sharing, keeping people from donating their organs. But it's fading away," Lee Seung-hyun, spokesperson for the Korean Organ and Tissue Donor Program, told The Korea Times. "Currently, tough regulations and complex procedures to win donor status largely contribute to such a low participation ratio in organ donation."

Boxing champ Choi Yo-sam passed away Thursday after being removed from a life-support device. He not only helped six patients with the donation of his organs but also rekindled public awareness regarding organ donation in South Korea, where an acute shortage exists. Experts hope that this revived interest in organ donation will continue to grow.

Organ shortage here is severe and shows no signs of improvement. The Korean Network for Organ Sharing (KONOS) said Thursday that in 2007 alone a total of 20,047 patients were added to the waiting list as would-be organ recipients. The figure was 17,219 in 2006 and 15,012 in 2005. The number of eligible donors including those in a coma was estimated at merely 148 in 2007, 141 in 2006 and 91 in 2005.

"Korea's roots in Confucianism, which holds a dim view toward harm to the body even as a corpse, has served as a main obstacle to organ sharing, keeping people from donating their organs. But it's fading away," Lee Seung-hyun, spokesperson for the Korean Organ and Tissue Donor Program, told The Korea Times. "Currently, tough regulations and complex procedures to win donor status largely contribute to such a low participation ratio in organ donation."

She said that some action needs to be taken for deregulation because applicants must go through cumbersome steps including lodging a self-written application form to win donor status. "In most countries the organ donation procedure is swift such as in Spain, the U.S. and France, which all have a simple processes," she said. Read the full article.

Middleton organ donor, 16, is honored at Rose Parade
From the Salem News in Massachusetts:

In his 16 years of life, Christopher Field's fertile imagination created the Green Dragon superhero, whose physical powers far surpassed those of Christopher's body, wracked by scoliosis and a muscle ailment undiagnosed even after his death in 2005.

Yet Christopher was honored in this week's Rose Parade for feats worthy of even the best superheroes: Vision restored to two people in Portugal. A 4-year-old boy's heart fixed in a Boston operating room. And dozens of other patients rescued by his donation of organs and tissue. Christopher's contributions helped land his image on the Donate Life Rose Parade® Float before the Rose Bowl game in Pasadena, Calif. Read the full story.

Group trying to dispel transplant myths
From the Sun-Sentinel in Florida:

"Last year, more than 6,400 people died nationwide while awaiting surgery. Reducing the waiting time for such life saving surgeries should be a priority for all of us"

Susan Friedman was diagnosed with hepatitis more than three decades ago. She is now awaiting a liver transplant operation that may save her life. "If I don't get an organ transplant, I will die. I am worried about my son. He is 22-years-old and he has already lost his father. I want to continue to be there for him."

Rafael Ganem is married with a 9-year-old daughter, and has been awaiting a kidney transplant for four years. "I have minimal energy as a result of my dialysis treatments, and my mobility is limited because three times a week I need to get treatment." Rafael can work only part-time, which has resulted in a major strain "on my family, emotionally and financially. I can only dream of the change that will come," he says, "once I receive my kidney transplant."

These are our neighbors. Like so many others living in our region, Susan and Rafael are anxiously awaiting life-saving transplant surgery. Read the full story.

Organ donor’s family learns how life goes on
From The Cape Breton Post in Nova Scotia, Canada:

WEST BAY — Norma O’Shea was a fit 48-year-old in seemingly perfect health when she died last May of a brain hemorrhage.

Despite the sudden nature of her death, her grief-stricken husband, Pat, and 18-year-old daughter, Katelyn, knew she would have wanted her organs and tissues to be donated to help others.

“She was very active, walked every day, just a real nice person who always took time to stop to talk to people, always saw the good in everybody. She was a real positive person,” says her husband.

The couple went to bed on the evening of May 23 and Norma awoke at about midnight, complaining of a headache. Within 15 minutes, she had suffered a brain hemorrhage.

“My daughter and I, when we were sitting in a room and they told us that Norma wasn’t going to make it, the two of us instantly asked, ‘So are we talking organ donation?’ just because there were so many times we had that conversation at home. There was no question, there wasn’t even a decision to be made.”

Norma’s nephew had died a decade earlier and the family had made the decision to donate his organs, so it was a discussion that she and Pat had already had.

The O’Sheas now have a framed letter on their mantle, noting that seven different people benefited from Norma’s gift, receiving organs, tissue and bone. Pat recently received a letter written by the woman who received his wife’s heart.

“It’s pretty amazing when you get the results back on a personal basis that what you’ve done has really changed the lives of other people,” he says. “An 18-year-old got her lungs. She was dying of lung disease and she got (Norma’s) lungs, and now she’s up and around. The 50-year-old woman who got her heart hadn’t worked since 1991 and was going back to work this December. People who got corneas who can see now and they couldn’t see before. To realize the impact she has made, she’s always been a giving person, but the impact she has made after she’s gone is just an amazing thing.” Read the full article.

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