Monday, November 30, 2009

British mom waiting for lung transplant given VIP shopping trip in limo

A1 Limos donate hummer limo trip to London for poorly mother and her family

by Carl Wheeler LimoBroker News

A mother of two from Princes Risborough, Buckinghamshire, who is waiting for a double lung transplant, is about to receive the VIP treatment with a hummer limo shopping trip to London. A local hairdressers decided to raise money in their salon to allow the poorly 34-year-old to have a special day out.

Since being diagnosed with emphysema two years ago Kate Powell has relied on an oxygen tank 24 hours a day to help her breathe. Ms Powell was born with congenital heart disease and had to have a number of operations before the age of 10. After being placed on the transplant list last month, the brave mum of two is taking tablets to make her heart strong enough to undergo the double lung transplant operation.

New Image hair salon in the Ms Powell’s local town decided to raise money in order to treat her and her family after seeing what they’ve gone through during past two years. The owner of New Image, Tracy Pears, is planning to send Ms Powell and her two sons off for a day of Christmas shopping in London. A1 Limos have kindly donated the services of their chauffeur driven hummer limo to the cause.

After hearing what the generous hairdressers had organized Ms Powell said: “When I told the boys we were going to London they were so excited. They have been brilliant- they are like my little carers.”

Another fundraising event is being held in the hair salon on December 6th with money from hair cuts being put towards a professional photography session for Ms Powell and her family.

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Sign Your Donor Card & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network. NEW for Ontario: recycleMe.org - Learn The Ins & Outs Of Organ And Tissue Donation. Register Today! For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register

In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register

Your generosity can save up to eight lives with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants. One tissue donor can help up to 100 other people by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves

Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant.

Friday, November 27, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving

AS Americans celebrate Thanksgiving this weekend we are reminded that we have much to be thankful for, especially those of us who have been given a second chance at life by an organ transplant. We thank our donors, our donor families, our families and friends for their love, care and support and our health care providers who brought us through those difficult times in our lives.

and
A huge thanks to the men and women of our armed forces for keeping us out of harm's way

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Sign Your Donor Card & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network. NEW for Ontario: recycleMe.org - Learn The Ins & Outs Of Organ And Tissue Donation. Register Today! For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register

In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register

Your generosity can save up to eight lives with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants. One tissue donor can help up to 100 other people by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves

Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Baby's new liver from Mom is working

Luke Tanner Witt, 15 months, received a life-saving liver transplant donated by his mother, Leah Kent, background, at Rady Children's Hospital. (David Brooks/Union-Tribune)

BY JOHN WILKENS The San Diego Union Tribune

SAN DIEGO — Leah Kent gave life to her son when he was born 15 months ago. Then she did it again, in late July, by donating part of her liver to him.

Mother and son were the happy guests of honor at Rady Children’s Hospital Monday morning for a Thanksgiving week news conference aimed at raising awareness of the need for organ transplants.

Luke was born with a rare metabolic disorder that caused his liver to malfunction. He had several life-threatening episodes, beginning at about 6 months old, He was put on the waiting list for a cadaver organ, but when his condition worsened, doctors looked for a living donor.

Tests showed his mother was a good candidate. In an 11-hour operation, doctors removed part of her liver and transplanted it in her son.

“I was all for it immediately,” Kent said. “Most parents would jump at the chance to do whatever they could.”

Both mother and son, who live in Carmel Valley, are doing well, said to Dr. Ajai Khanna, one of the surgeons. Kent’s liver has re-grown. Luke’s long-term survival and quality of life should be similar to his peers.

Khanna said living-donor operations, once rare, have become more commonplace in the past decade.

He and Kent urged San Diegans to consider giving “the gift of life” to someone through organ donations.

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Sign Your Donor Card & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network. NEW for Ontario: recycleMe.org - Learn The Ins & Outs Of Organ And Tissue Donation. Register Today! For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register

In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register

Your generosity can save up to eight lives with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants. One tissue donor can help up to 100 other people by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves

Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Surprise lung transplant gives mom renewed hope

By BARBARA TURNBULL Staff Reporter - The Toronto Star Healthzone.ca

"Be brave. Even when you are scared. Be Brave. Whatever it is, you can do it. Manage it. Overcome it."

– Natalia Ritchie


Just weeks ago, John Boguslawski was stoically waiting for his sister Natalia Ritchie, 30, to die of cystic fibrosis, the disease that was gradually destroying her lungs.

"I like it that there's an end to the road," he said then in a Star story on her harrowing ordeal. "I know that sounds cruel ... if she gets the lungs, this gets better. If she doesn't ... she goes and she doesn't have to continue (the fight)."

But on Saturday night he was Tweeting relatives and friends that Ritchie, the mother of a 4-month-old daughter, Scarlett, was about to undergo a 10-hour double lung transplant at Toronto General Hospital, giving her a new lease on a life.

"We just found out that the transplant is a go!!!" Boguslawski wrote on Ritchie's blog, Journey of a Lifetime, at 5:49 p.m. Saturday. "Please say a prayer for the family of the donor, someone just made the ultimate gift, but had to pay for it with his/her life."

Word of a possible transplant came around noon Saturday, three months, two weeks and a day after Ritchie was placed on the transplant list. Just days ago, her condition was so tenuous that doctors had placed her on a Novalung, a cutting-edge machine that oxygenates her blood and acts as an artificial organ, and can serve as a bridge to transplant when a situation is at its most critical.

"The surgery is going ahead. The lungs were deemed to be good and it should take about 10 hours," Boguslawski emailed triumphantly as surgeons prepared for the operation.

It is another chapter in what Ritchie herself has described as, "More than anything ... the story of great hope."

Last month, when she could still speak, Ritchie spoke of her hopes, and the knowledge that, whatever lies ahead, it won't be easy.

"If we get an extra five years or 15 years, those are going to be good years," she said then, filled with the hope conveyed by her medical team. "We're committed to making sure I get out of here in good form."

But, just in case, Ritchie has also spent hours writing her 4-month-old baby – born to a surrogate in July – telling Scarlett in words she cannot yet comprehend just how hard her mom is fighting to see her grow up.

"I have been thinking about how I can possibly write to you, about you, about us, when you are so tiny and brand new, knowing that you will read this when you are so much older," Ritchie wrote in one post.

"It's a funny thing. But I think about you in the future often, and think about what I will say to you when you're 5, 15, 25 ... I want to be there to say the things that I want you to know, but I might not be."

Last night Ritchie and her medical team took a giant step on the road to making possible that wish, to speak to her daughter years from now, to demonstrate that the power of love can sometimes vanquish even the worst of the body's betrayals.

But it won't be easy. Ritchie herself forecast the difficulties ahead.

"I want to do everything possible to protect this child from harm," she blogged last December of Scarlett, then still a dream for herself and husband Martin.

"Yet I know that my reality is theirs," Ritchie confessed.

"I know that they will always know more about illness, hospitals, IVs, infection, transplant, and the tough part of life than many of their friends.

"Yet I'd like to think that our little baby will also know so much love! They will see human will and the power of hope and determination. The power of faith and the power of family. The power of medicine, and our belief in it. The power of the country that we live in that makes sure I am as well as I can be.

"I could go on, and sometimes I do, to help myself overcome the fears that I have otherwise," Ritchie confessed.

She's already had a foretaste of what life, post-surgery, could turn out to be like.

In September, shortly after Scarlett's birth, Ritchie blogged of the joys of motherhood.

"I can sit her up on my leg and it's so nice for me! I can actually hold her without getting breathless."


Read her blog at: http://natandmarty.blogspot.com.

Follow her brother on Twitter http://twitter.com/jboguslawski

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Sign Your Donor Card & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network. NEW for Ontario: recycleMe.org - Learn The Ins & Outs Of Organ And Tissue Donation. Register Today! For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register

In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register

Your generosity can save up to eight lives with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants. One tissue donor can help up to 100 other people by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves

Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant.

Saturday, November 21, 2009

H1N1 Vaccine as Safe as Seasonal Vaccine, WHO Says

For anyone avoiding the H1N1 flu shot because of concerns about potential side effects this briefing from the World Health Organization is certainly great news. The WHO says that all data compiled to date indicate that pandemic vaccines match the excellent safety profile of seasonal influenza vaccines, which have been used for more than 60 years.

Read the full WHO briefing on the Safety of pandemic vaccines.

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Sign Your Donor Card & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network. NEW for Ontario: recycleMe.org - Learn The Ins & Outs Of Organ And Tissue Donation. Register Today! For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register

In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register

Your generosity can save up to eight lives with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants. One tissue donor can help up to 100 other people by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves

Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant.

Friday, November 20, 2009

FDA approves new drug for nerve pain that follows shingles

This is wonderful news for me. Like many transplant recipients who are immunosuppressed, I contracted shingles shortly after my lung transplant and the pain was the most excruciating I've ever known. My suffering from the postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) lasted for almost an unbearable year. If this new patch is as promising for relieving this pain as they say it is it will have a huge effect on the quality of life for those afflicted. Who would have thought that chili peppers would be the source for this exciting new treatment?

From The Medical News

FDA approves NeurogesX's Qutenza patch for postherpetic neuralgia treatment

NeurogesX, Inc. (Nasdaq: NGSX) announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Qutenza(TM) (capsaicin) 8% patch, the first and only product containing prescription strength capsaicin, for the management of neuropathic pain due to postherpetic neuralgia (PHN), the nerve pain which can follow shingles.

Qutenza delivers a synthetic form of capsaicin, the substance in chili peppers that gives them their heat sensation, through a dermal delivery system, providing up to 12 weeks of reduced pain following a single one-hour application. It is the first product from NeurogesX to be approved by the FDA.

"PHN can be an excruciatingly painful condition that can affect many aspects of a patient's quality of life. Despite a variety of medications for pain, undesirable side effects often limit their use and therefore, the treatment of PHN continues to represent a significant unmet need," said Lynn Webster, M.D., Medical Director, Lifetree Clinical Research, Salt Lake City, Utah. "Qutenza may provide a unique treatment option that works at the site of the pain and may be useful as a treatment option in combination with existing therapies."

Qutenza works by targeting certain pain nerves in the area of skin where pain is being experienced. The Qutenza patch is applied by a physician or a healthcare professional. Clinical studies have shown that PHN pain can be reduced for up to 12 weeks following a single one-hour treatment. Up to four patches may be used and patches may be cut to conform to the size and shape of the painful area. Qutenza is a locally-acting, non-narcotic medication that is unlikely to cause drowsiness or have drug-drug interactions. Treatment with Qutenza may be repeated every three or more months as warranted by the return of pain.

In clinical trials, the most common adverse reactions were application site redness, pain, itching, and papules. The majority of these reactions were transient and self limited. Among patients treated with Qutenza, one percent discontinued prematurely due to an adverse event. Serious adverse reactions included application site pain and increased blood pressure. Increases in blood pressure occurred during or shortly after exposure to Qutenza. The changes were on average less than 10 mm Hg, although some patients had greater increases and these changes lasted for approximately two hours after patch removal.

"We are delighted to have received the FDA's approval to provide this novel pain management therapy to the many patients and physicians looking for new ways to manage PHN," said Anthony DiTonno, President and Chief Executive Officer, NeurogesX. "The approval of Qutenza is a tremendous accomplishment for NeurogesX as it represents the culmination of numerous years of hard work and determination by our entire organization. With Qutenza now approved both in the United States and European Union, we expect 2010 will be a great year for NeurogesX as Qutenza is introduced in these major markets."

NeurogesX plans to commercialize Qutenza in the United States through its own sales force and plans for the initial launch of Qutenza in the first half of 2010.

SOURCE NeurogesX, Inc.

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Sign Your Donor Card & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network. NEW for Ontario: recycleMe.org - Learn The Ins & Outs Of Organ And Tissue Donation. Register Today! For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register

In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register

Your generosity can save up to eight lives with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants. One tissue donor can help up to 100 other people by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves

Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Have you had your H1N1 flu shot?



After receiving the seasonal flu shot a couple of weeks ago I managed to get the H1N1 vaccine this week so I'm hopefully well protected against the flu for this year. I hope that all transplant recipients make an effort to get these shots. Medical specialists recommend that all immunosuppressed individuals receive the vaccines. People that have had solid organ transplants (such as lungs, kidneys or livers) have higher flu infection rates due to the immunosuppressant drugs they take. Lung transplant recipients such as I seem particularly at risk as the lungs are the primary site of flu infection.

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Sign Your Donor Card & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network. NEW for Ontario: recycleMe.org - Learn The Ins & Outs Of Organ And Tissue Donation. Register Today! For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register

In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register

Your generosity can save up to eight lives with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants. One tissue donor can help up to 100 other people by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves

Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Nova Sotia welcomes Olympic flame

It' great to see that a lung transplant recipient was given the chance to carry the Olympic torch on it's journey across Canada towards Vancouver, British Columbia where the 2010 Winter Olympic Games will be held from February 12th to the 28th. This is another wonderful example of how life-transforming an organ transplant can be.

CBC News

Cape Breton welcomes Olympic flame

Eddie MacDonald considers it a tremendous honor to be one of the torchbearers carrying the Olympic flame through Cape Breton.

He could barely walk the length of a hallway until a lung transplant two years ago.

"I'm a really patriotic Canadian and I'm one of those people who still get goosebumps when I hear the national anthem played," he told CBC News.

"I just think that this is probably one of the greatest honors of my life, outside of maybe my 43-year marriage to my wife and the birth of my children."

The Olympic torch relay kicked off Monday morning in North Sydney after the flame arrived on the ferry from Newfoundland. A handful of people lined Shore Road as the first torchbearers passed by just after 8 a.m.

More than 100 people are set to carry the flame across Cape Breton. Each torchbearer carries the flame for about 300 meters.

MacDonald walked his route in Sydney in order to prepare. The transplant recipient — who turns 67 on Tuesday — said he expected to be a little winded at the end.

"Am I glad to see you," he said, beaming as the next torch bearer met him on the route.

MacDonald said he hopes his time with the torch gives hope to those waiting for organ transplants and inspires others to sign donor cards. He believes the Olympic Games could give people something positive to focus on in difficult times.

"The Games are a wonderful thing and they're happening at a crucial time in our history," he said. "We're going through a terrible recession, we've got a flu pandemic on the go, we got a war going on in Afghanistan. We need a diversion and I think the Games are it."

Sydney celebration

More than 1,000 people gathered at the Joan Harris Cruise Pavilion in Sydney to watch the flame lit on the podium by Lynette Sampson, the final runner of the Cape Breton Regional Municipality segment of the relay.

Sampson, a Special Olympics swimmer from Sydney River, said she was thrilled to be able to carry the torch.

"It felt magnificent, I was so excited and it was just so much of an honor, just an honor to be a torchbearer and to walk," she said.

Among the onlookers was Peter Flemming, who carried the torch for the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary. His daughter, Christina, who watched her father carry the torch when she was five-years-old, was one of the torchbearers on Monday.

"She had her pink snowsuit on and she held the torch with me back then 22 years ago," said Flemming. "Now she has her turn to carry it and actually, they let me hold the torch with her as we ran along for part of the way, so it was really amazing."

After making its way around Cape Breton, the torch arrived in Port Hawkesbury on Monday evening.

The relay continues on mainland Nova Scotia on Tuesday. Hockey star Sidney Crosby, from Cole Harbour, will be one of the torchbearers on Wednesday when the flame is in Halifax.

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Sign Your Donor Card & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network. NEW for Ontario: recycleMe.org - Learn The Ins & Outs Of Organ And Tissue Donation. Register Today! For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register

In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register

Your generosity can save up to eight lives with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants. One tissue donor can help up to 100 other people by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves

Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant.

Monday, November 16, 2009

Woman given kidneys from mother and father

A woman whose life was saved when her father donated a kidney ten years ago has now had a life-saving transplant from her mother.

Telegraph.co.uk

The second kidney donation marks the end of a long journey for Julie Robson and her family.

Ten years ago Julie's father Bob, 56, donated his kidney, but her body sadly began to reject the organ.

And the health complications that followed eventually lead to the 34-year-old having to cancel her wedding to fiance Mark.

Everything was planned, from the wedding cake to chilled champagne, but two days before the big day Julie, from Washington, Tyne and Wear, collapsed and was taken to hospital.

However, disaster soon turned to hope when her mother Carol, 55, was found to be a perfect donor-match, and plans for a second operation were put in motion.

To add to the family's joy, Slaley Hall hotel in Northumberland agreed to reschedule Julie and Mark's wedding free of charge, and the bride-to- be's condition stabilized enough for them to tie the knot in September last year.

Now, Mrs Robson is looking forward to a complete end to her health fears as all signs indicate the operation with her mother at Newcastle's Freeman Hospital was a complete success.

Mrs Robson said: "It was very emotional. We were on different wards before the operation but it was just down the corridor.

"I don't remember too much about waking up, but the nurses said I was asking how my mum was six or seven times as I was coming round.

"It's different now because the surgery this time was done through a keyhole.

"When my dad had his operation they almost had to cut him in half. So he keeps saying now that he wishes my mum could've gone first."

UK Transplant, the NHS body which supervises organ transplants across the country, said there have been only 15 cases of people receiving kidneys from both parents since records began in the late 1960s.

In total, there have been some 8,000 living kidney transplants throughout that time.

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Sign Your Donor Card & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network. NEW for Ontario: recycleMe.org - Learn The Ins & Outs Of Organ And Tissue Donation. Register Today! For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register

In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register

Your generosity can save up to eight lives with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants. One tissue donor can help up to 100 other people by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves

Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant.

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Tennessee man needs $12,000 in the bank to qualify for a lung transplant

More and more transplant patients are taking to the web to raise money for their life-saving operation. This Tennessee man has been told that he must provide a bank account showing at least a $12,000 balance to prove he has the ability to pay living expenses in North Carolina for up to four months after his lung transplant. Read L.J. Lively's story at his web site.

By Leean Tupper OAKRIDGER.com

CLINTON, Tenn. —
Luther John "L.J." Lively was once an avid hunter and fisherman who loved being outdoors.

Now, Lively writes on his web site, that he can't walk a few feet "without turning blue and gasping for air, even with oxygen."

"His lung capacity is about down to nothing," his daughter, Kim Martin, said this week.

"I quit smoking 28 years ago, but I worked at several factory jobs in the '60s and '70s where I was exposed to a variety of toxic chemicals and lung-damaging industrial agents," L.J. stated.

Over time, Lively's factory jobs affected his breathing to the point he now must use oxygen around-the-clock.

Now 68, he has been diagnosed with pulmonary arterial hypertension and an enlarged heart.

Just days after being diagnosed earlier this year at Vanderbilt University, Lively and his family came home.

"They told him there was severe pulmonary damage and there was nothing they could do," Martin said.

Soon, Lively received a telephone call from a nurse who had treated him at Vanderbilt. The nurse had called some contacts at Duke University and doctors there wanted to meet with Lively.

After several tests, doctors at Duke determined Lively is eligible for a lung transplant, Martin said.

But before the transplant, Lively must complete a series of respiratory rehabilitation sessions at Methodist Medical Center of Oak Ridge.

He also must have $12,000 in the bank. That money is expected to be used to pay living expenses in North Carolina for up to four months after the transplant.

Lively, a former Clinton resident who now lives in Deer Lodge with his wife, Carolyn, travels to Oak Ridge several times a week for treatment. Other than those trips, Lively rarely leaves his home, his daughter said.

"It's hard to see him struggle," Martin said. "I'm the kind of person, I like to fix things, and this is a situation I can't fix."

But, the family is trying to raise money to help their father, husband and grandfather have a new chance at life.

A bluegrass and gospel music festival to support "Lungs for LJ" will be held beginning at 6 p.m. Saturday at the Little Ponderosa Zoo outside Clinton. The zoo is located at 629 Granite Road, off U.S. Highway 25W between Clinton and Lake City.

Tickets are $10 each for persons age 13 and older, and $8 for children 5 to 12. Children under age 4 will be admitted free.

The festival will feature music from The McCoys, Coal Creek, Blacksferry Road, The Fox Family, and The Victory. Music will begin at 6 p.m. and will continue until 9 p.m., Martin said.

The festival also will include a live auction at the end of the entertainment; a concession stand; face painting; and a children's craft table. The event will also feature a raffle for a 1997 Cadillac El Dorado that has approximately 180,000 miles. Tickets are $20 each and the winner will be announced Saturday night. To purchase a raffle ticket, call Martin at (865) 816-2376.

"I long to do even the simplest things and enjoy life, play with my younger grandchildren, and go hunting with my sons and sons-in-law, go fishing with old friends, and teach my grandchildren to love the outdoors as I do," Lively wrote on his Web site.

If you can't attend Saturday's bluegrass and gospel music festival, but would like to help, donations can be given to the "L.J. Lively Benefit Fund" at any branch of ORNL Federal Credit Union.

Leean Tupper can be contacted at (865) 220-5501.

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Sign Your Donor Card & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network. NEW for Ontario: recycleMe.org - Learn The Ins & Outs Of Organ And Tissue Donation. Register Today! For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register

In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register

Your generosity can save up to eight lives with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants. One tissue donor can help up to 100 other people by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves

Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant.

Friday, November 13, 2009

Israel denies transplants following brain death

Rabbis' dismay as transplant rules change

A lung transplant operation in Jerusalem. Rabbis disagree over what constitutes the moment of death, and when transplants can go ahead

By Anshel Pfeffer, The Jewish Community Online

Deputy Health Minister Yaakov Litzman has dismayed the Israeli medical community and many rabbis by announcing that organ transplants are to be allowed only after the donor’s heart has stopped beating.

His decision contradicted a recent agreement between rabbis and doctors that said that transplants could be carried out following brain death.

Mr Litzman, of the United Torah Judaism party, made his position clear in a letter to a medical conference last week.

In the absence of a health minister in the Israeli cabinet, he is the de-facto head of Israel’s health establishment and has the power to withhold financing from hospitals and medical centers operating against his wishes.

The issue of organ transplants has long been a source of contention between rabbis and doctors. The mainstream medical opinion is that once the brain ceases to function, death can be declared, a position disputed by a number of leading rabbis who view cutting off life-support and removing vital organs while the heart is still beating as murder.

Over two decades of patient negotiations, doctors in Israel managed to win a large number of rabbis over to their position. However, an official rabbinical recognition of brain death as the point at which a transplant can be carried out was denied, since the doctors refused to have rabbis included in the process of pronouncing death before a transplant operation.

Still, many rabbis have privately endorsed transplants and encouraged religious Israelis to carry donor cards. Last year, the Knesset passed the Organ Transplant Law, which necessitates a ruling by two senior doctors who are not involved in transplants on the death of a potential donor. Following the legislation, the council of the Chief Rabbinate voted three months ago that brain death did indeed constitute the moment of death.

Despite the council’s ruling, a number of senior strictly-Orthodox rabbis, including the leading authority Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, have remained true to their old position, which was echoed by Mr Litzman in his letter.

The letter caused an uproar in the medical community and calls for Mr Litzman’s resignation soon followed.

But in subsequent interviews, Mr Litzman insisted that he was merely following the transplant law, which also said that transplants should be carried out according to halachah. “All the greatest rabbis had ruled that death is when the heart ceases to beat,” he added.

He would not say whether hospitals and doctors that would decide differently would be reprimanded or have their funding curtailed.

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Sign Your Donor Card & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network. NEW for Ontario: recycleMe.org - Learn The Ins & Outs Of Organ And Tissue Donation. Register Today! For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register

In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register

Your generosity can save up to eight lives with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants. One tissue donor can help up to 100 other people by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves

Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant.

Coming events in Toronto

==================================================

Wednesday, DECEMBER 9, 2009
Wednesday, December 9th - Toronto General Hospital
Lung transplant Christmas Party 10AM to 1PM
Location: TGH 11th floor - Support group meeting room (Astellas Conference Room)

This is a "Pot Luck" affair. Finger foods such as vegetable & cheese trays, sandwiches, desserts, etc. will be welcome. Coffee & tea will be provided.
This annual social event is a wonderful opportunity to renew old friendships, meet new people and socialize with doctors and staff.

Contact: Ann McGuire 416-233-3614 (annmcguire@rogers.com )

NOTE: Cystic Fibrosis (CF) patients - CF patients are not permitted to attend the support & education group meetings until further notice. CF patients may request supplementary information on any topic of interest discussed at these group meetings through Tara Bolden or Ursula Dignard.


Thursday, November 12, 2009

UK mom's plea after she misses transplant

By Tara Dundon The Evening Telegraph

A mum from Peterborough who has missed out on what could be her only chance of a life-saving transplant has made a heartfelt plea for people to register as organ donors.

Lindy Jakes been given just two years to live unless she receives a double lung transplant, allowing her precious time with her seven children and 12 grandchildren.

The 41-year-old of Council Street, Walton, Peterborough, thought her prayers were answered when she was offered a transplant on October 31, after being on the waiting list for nine weeks.

But she was in Peterborough District Hospital and was too ill and taking too much medication for the transplant to go ahead.

She said: "I had to turn it down. All of the staff in Ward 1Y were so comforting and understanding, they helped me get through it.

"I was, and still am, devastated. That was my chance of freedom and a new life where I could get rid of the oxygen tank and start swimming again with my children and grandchildren or even do simple things like go shopping."

With only 27 per cent of the population registered as organ donors and three of the 10,000 people on the UK transplant waiting list dying each day, Mrs Jakes knows her chances of getting a donor who is a perfect match are slim.

She is appealing for more people to join the register and pledge to donate their organs to someone after their death.

She said: "A donor is a gift of life, giving someone else another chance. My whole family are registered, and I would urge everyone who is healthy to sign up – one day it might be you who needs a new organ."

It was only two years ago that Mrs Jakes went to the doctors with a chest infection and discovered she had emphysema – a long-term, progressive disease of the lung. She also has end stage lung disease, which means her lungs cannot keep her blood supplied with oxygen.

Mrs Jakes' quality of life is deteriorating daily – she is wheelchair-bound, on oxygen 24 hours a day and cannot leave the house for fear of contracting swine flu or pneumonia, which could kill

her. She is cared for by her husband Wayne (41) and youngest daughter Deanna (13).

Mr Jakes said: "It is hard looking after my wife full time, we go through ups and downs and the waiting is awful.

"Although you can't force people to be a donor, I would like to see everyone registered and those who don't want to be one, should have to opt out. If I could give Lindy one of my lungs then I would."

To join the NHS Organ Donor Register click here or call 0300 123 23 23.

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Sign Your Donor Card & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network. NEW for Ontario: recycleMe.org - Learn The Ins & Outs Of Organ And Tissue Donation. Register Today! For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register

In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register

Your generosity can save up to eight lives with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants. One tissue donor can help up to 100 other people by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves

Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

We honor our veterans, past and present, who took so little and gave so much



WE MUST NEVER FORGET

IN FLANDERS FIELDS by John McCrae

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw the sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.


John MacRae in Uniform
John McRae in uniform, circa 1914

Note:
Major John McCrae was a surgeon in the Canadian army during the first world war. The day before he wrote his famous poem, one of McCrae's closest friends was killed in the fighting and buried in a makeshift grave with a simple wooden cross. Wild poppies were already beginning to bloom between the crosses marking the many graves. Unable to help his friend or any of the others who had died, John McCrae gave them a voice through his poem. It was the second last poem he was to write; he died of pneumonia a few months later.




Honoring our veterans, past and present
WE MUST NEVER FORGET


Tuesday, November 10, 2009

65-REDROSES

On Monday, November 16th, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp (CBC) at 10:00 p.m. PST and repeated November 22nd at 5 p.m. PST, will run a documentary about the challenges of a life-threatening illness. The film features Eva Markvoort, a double-lung transplant recipient from British Columbia, and two other young women from the U.S. who are all battling Cystic Fibrosis. Unable to meet in person because of the spread of infections and super bugs, the girls have become each other's lifelines through the Internet, providing unconditional love, support and understanding long after visiting hours are over.

65-RED ROSES is produced by Force Four Entertainment in association with CBC Newsworld and Dualogue Productions. Redefining the traditional scope of documentary film in an electronic age, 65_RedRoses leaves viewers with a new appreciation of life and the digital world.

Lest we Forget Honoring our veterans, past and present

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Sign Your Donor Card & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network. NEW for Ontario: recycleMe.org - Learn The Ins & Outs Of Organ And Tissue Donation. Register Today! For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register

In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register

Your generosity can save up to eight lives with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants. One tissue donor can help up to 100 other people by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves

Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant.

Monday, November 09, 2009

Transplant Memories - Fact or Fiction?

A by-product of heart transplants - can memories and preferences be stored in cells?

This is another post on the topic and there have been many other such stories in the past. I can remember reading about a heart recipient, a construction worker, who started to listen to classical music and buy classical albums which he had no liking for previously. It turned out that he received the heart of a musician that was hit by a car on his way to play in a symphony orchestra.

CELLULAR MEMORY: Researchers hypothesize that organ recipients' personality change is due to memory being stored in cells. (photos.com)

Epoch Times

Legend has it that about 2,500 years ago, during China’s Warring State Period, two men went to see a great doctor by the name of Bian Que. Bian cured their sickness very quickly but discovered that they had another problem that had been growing more serious over time. Bian said that they would both get well if they exchanged their hearts, and they agreed to let Bian perform the surgery.

Bian had the two men drink some anesthetics and they lost consciousness for three days, during which Bian opened their chests, exchanged their hearts, and applied medicine. When they regained consciousness, they had already recovered and were as well as before.

But something was wrong: When they returned home, they were both baffled because their wives couldn’t recognize them. It turned out that they had both gone to the other person's home and thought that the other person’s wife was their wife.

It seems inconceivable that such a surgery could have been performed 2,500 years ago, but this story is unbelievably similar to the situation observed in some modern heart transplant cases.

The U.K.’s Daily Mail reported that, after a heart transplant, Sonny Graham of Georgia fell in love with his donor’s wife and married her. Twelve years after their marriage, he committed suicide the same way his donor did.

In another Daily Mail report, a man named William Sheridan received a heart from an artist who died in a car accident, and suddenly he was able to produce beautiful drawings of wildlife and landscapes.

Claire Sylvia, the recipient of a heart and a lung in 1988, wrote in her book A Change of Heart: A Memoir that after the transplant she started to like beer, fried chicken, and green pepper—all of which she didn’t like before but her donor, an 18-year-old boy, liked.

She had a dream in which she kissed a boy she thought to be named Tim L., and inhaled him into her during the kissing. She later found that Tim L. was the name of her donor. She wondered if it was because one of the doctors mentioned the name during her surgery, but was told that the doctors did not know the name of the donor.

In a paper published in the Journal of Near-Death Studies, Dr. Paul Pearsall of the University of Hawaii and Dr. Gary Schwartz and Dr. Linda Russek of the University of Arizona discussed 10 cases of heart or heart-lung transplants in which the recipients were reported to have “changes in food, music, art, sexual, recreational, and career preferences, as well as specific instances of perceptions of names and sensory experiences related to the donors.”

In one of the cases that they described, the donor was an African American, so the recipient thought the donor would like rap music and therefore didn’t think the transplant was the cause of his new preference for classical music. However, it was found that the donor was a violin player and loved classical music.

This case suggests that changes in organ recipients’ preferences occur without the recipients anticipating them. Thus these cases are unlike the placebo effect, in which patients’ health conditions change in the direction of their expectations.

In addition, the researchers pointed out that like the above recipients, there might be other recipients who dismiss the idea that they adopted their donors’ preferences because of their expectations of the donors, so the number of organ transplant recipients who experienced a personality change similar to that of their donors might be underrepresented.

Pearsall, Schwartz, and Russek concluded that it is unlikely these cases happened out of coincidence, and hypothesized that it is because of cellular memory, meaning that memories and preferences can be stored in cells. However, it is currently unknown whether this form of memory exists.

To see their report, please visit http://www.littleurl.net/ac45f9

Lest we Forget

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Sign Your Donor Card & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network. NEW for Ontario: recycleMe.org - Learn The Ins & Outs Of Organ And Tissue Donation. Register Today! For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register

In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register

Your generosity can save up to eight lives with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants. One tissue donor can help up to 100 other people by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves

Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant.

Saturday, November 07, 2009

San Antonio blood bank lends support to Fort Hood victims

Lest we Forget
From the San Antonia Business Journal

The South Texas Blood & Tissue Center has agreed to ship needed supplies of platelets to Fort Hood for the victims of Thursday's tragedy at the Army base.

U.S. Army officials are continuing to respond to a shooting spree at the Central Texas installation on Thursday that left 13 people dead and 30 wounded.

Blood supplies in San Antonio are currently adequate for the San Antonio area and the South Texas Blood & Tissue Center is on standby to ship units to the Fort Hood if needed.

The blood bank is asking for volunteers who are willing to donate blood for the Fort Hood area. The South Texas region also needs a daily supply of 600 units of blood for hospitals and emergency treatment facilities to help save lives of local patients with cancer and other diseases, organ transplants, surgeries and accident victims. Residents are asked to visit the Web site The South Texas Blood & Tissue Center to schedule an appointment.

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Sign Your Donor Card & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network. NEW for Ontario: recycleMe.org - Learn The Ins & Outs Of Organ And Tissue Donation. Register Today! For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register

In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register

Your generosity can save up to eight lives with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants. One tissue donor can help up to 100 other people by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves

Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant.

Friday, November 06, 2009

Woman needs financial help with her life-saving lung transplant

Holly Julian needs a lung transplant
Knowing the financial burden of out-of-pocket expenses associated with a lung transplant, in addition to any insurance coverage provided, one of my mandates is to help others in need and I'm pleased to post the plight of Holly Julian here. Her approach to seeking help is unique and I hope it's successful. The following is taken from her web site Hugs for Holly.

Holly Julian is now facing the biggest challenge of her life: a double lung transplant at University Transplant Center in San Antonio, Texas.

To help offset the costs associated with lung transplant surgery, University Transplant Center recommended that Holly and Steve Julian look into fundraising efforts supported by a non-profit organization such as National Foundation for Transplants.

Working with NFT, Holly and her husband, Steve, immediately began developing a team of friends to help with the fundraising. From their initial selection of a chairman and treasurer, the team grew quickly to 25.

Early in the process, the concept of “Hugs for Holly” was born. One of the team members, Hayley Carman, recalled that Holly signed her e.mails: “Hugs, Holly” and she developed the slogan. Holly loves to greet people with a hug, it is her way of saying “I care.”

So, for all the love Holly has given and for her determination to stay alive, it is the team’s way of saying, we care and love her.

With the help of her own knowledge and determination and the expert care of the doctors and their team at University Transplant Center, Holly Julian has every expectation of living a full and meaningful life as a result of lung transplant surgery. Won’t you join her friends and family as we endeavor to help her meet the challenges that face her in the future by donating to Hugs for Holly today.

Read Holly's Story.


“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Sign Your Donor Card & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network. NEW for Ontario: recycleMe.org - Learn The Ins & Outs Of Organ And Tissue Donation. Register Today! For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register

In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register

Your generosity can save up to eight lives with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants. One tissue donor can help up to 100 other people by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves

Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant.

Wednesday, November 04, 2009

Free eye exams and glasses for Fresh Air Fund children

Fresh Air Fund Eye exams
Click image for larger view

One of my favorite charities is the Fresh Air Fund that gets children out of the hot and steamy inner-city of New York and into the country each summer. Not only does the Fresh Air Fund help in this way but they also provide assistance and services that are needed in many other ways. One such service is the partnership with OneSight to provide free eye exams and glasses to children that need them. This summer 1,629 pairs of glasses were made and I'm happy to post this note I received from Sara Wilson today.

"Hi Merv

I wanted to let you know about a partnership we are very proud of here at The Fresh Air Fund. This past summer OneSight reached out to us and helped over 3000 Fresh Air children by making sure that every child who needed the gift of sight was screened. The Fresh Air Fund is so happy OneSight and their traveling optical clinic are able to help at Fresh Air camps. I was hoping you could post a mention on Merv Sheppard’s Transplant Network to help this worthy cause. I've created a new social media microsite which explains everything:

http://freshairvision.org

By supporting The Fresh Air Fund we are able to partner with Onesight to provide free eye exams and eyewear to the children who need them each year. Please let me know if you are able to post or have any questions.

Thanks so much,

Sara"

--
Sara Wilson,
The Fresh Air Fund
http://www.freshair.org




“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Sign Your Donor Card & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network. NEW for Ontario: recycleMe.org - Learn The Ins & Outs Of Organ And Tissue Donation. Register Today! For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register

In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register

Your generosity can save up to eight lives with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants. One tissue donor can help up to 100 other people by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves

Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant.

Tuesday, November 03, 2009

Free educational program on Kidney Transplant
Burbank, CA, Saturday, Nov 7, 2009

Click for enhanced view
Click image for enhanced view

Location:

Los Angeles Marriott
Burbank Airport Hotel
2500 North Hollywood Way
Burbank, CA 91505
Saturday, November 7th, 2009
Registration: 9:30 a.m.
Program Begins: 10:00 a.m.
To register call 1-866-756-7004

  • Inspiring: Hear from a kidney transplant recipient who will share his or her story of renal disease and life before and after kidney transplantation

  • Educating: Have your questions about kidney failure, transplantation, rejection, and immunosuppressant therapies answered by a local health care professional

  • Resourceful: Learn more about Medicare, Medicaid, insurance benefits, and Novartis patient assistance programs, from a local financial coordinator

Monday, November 02, 2009

Rabbis: Organ donation is murder

According to Jewish religious laws, as interpreted by the ultra-Orthodox Badatz, brain death or brain stem death are not defined as death, and that removing a person from life support is murder.

Kobi Nahshoni ynetnews.com
Jewish World

Following a Ynet report on the Chief Rabbinate's decision to recognize brain-respiratory death, thus allowing organ donations in accordance with Jewish religious laws, the Badatz, the Eda Haredit's high court, ruled that taking organs from a person in such a condition or removing him or her from life support is murder.

In an announcement published in the ultra-Orthodox organization's journal, 'HaEda', the Badatz, headed by Yitzhak Tuvia Weiss reiterated the ruling that was given almost two-years ago, "in light of the Zionist rabbinate's shocking seal of approval".

The announcement said, "We have already ruled and given a clear Torah judgment… that brain death or brain stem death are not defined as death, and if organs are taken from (a person in such a condition) it is murder.

"We repeat that such a ruling already exists, and life support must not be disconnected, the person is alive in every way."

The Eda Haredit's firm stance is in line with that of the mainstream ultra-Orthodox public's position, as it expressed in the community's Yated Ne'eman daily paper.

An editorial published after the Chief Rabbinate's ruling titled "Caution: Bloodshed" criticized the rabbis' debate over the matter, saying, "There is no place of discussions or debates in this matter" and protested the fact that "Every student is allowing himself to give 'educated opinions' and present 'halachic studies' in the matter as they please."

The editorial said that paper would "continue to express the Torah and the halacha's stance against these dangerous initiatives, as part of its role and its mission as a form of expression of the Torah world and the God-fearing public standing on the front lines of the struggle for the sanctity of life according to halacha."

Last month the Chief Rabbinate ruled that the Organ Donation Law's definition of brain death at the moment of death is in line with that of the halacha. However, arbiter Yosef Sholom Elyashiv maintains his objection to the ruling, and views cessation of cardiac rhythm as moment of death.

The Chief Rabbinate's decision ratifies a ruling given by the council in 1987 on determining the moment of death. At the time, the rabbis ruled out organ donation after the medical establishment objected to having a rabbinical representative join the team that determines death.

Now that the law has been approved, there is no concern that doctors may pronounce someone dead against halacha, and the rabbinate decided to introduce a new organ donation initiative, parallel to that of the National Transplant and Organ Donations Center.

-------

Read the original article
for reader's comments.

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Sign Your Donor Card & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network. NEW for Ontario: recycleMe.org - Learn The Ins & Outs Of Organ And Tissue Donation. Register Today! For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register

In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register

Your generosity can save up to eight lives with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants. One tissue donor can help up to 100 other people by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves

Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant.