We regard transplanted organs as a gift, not as a medical right

This father should think again before demanding a new liver for his alcoholic son

Anjana Ahuja TimesOnline

One can imagine the surprise of the barman who went to serve Gareth Anderson. The 19-year-old wandered in to a Belfast pub last week, and asked for a drink. Nothing wrong with that, except that Anderson was clad in hospital gown and slippers, accessorised with intravenous drip needles in his arm. Sensibly, the barman refused to serve him, and rang the Ulster Hospital opposite.

Had the barman known the reason for Mr Anderson’s hospitalization, he might have been less measured: the teenager is awaiting a liver transplant, precipitated by a blowout weekend fuelled by 30 cans of lager. The young alcoholic is now in a London hospital, which has refused a transplant unless he stays dry for six months (as is requested of all potential liver recipients whose condition is drink related). Mr Anderson’s father, meanwhile, is planning legal action to overturn the six-month ruling.

There is much to rue in this story, not least an alcohol-worshipping culture that is now corroding the health of ever-younger drinkers. It is regrettable that donated livers are in such short supply; if they were not, Mr Anderson could have received a new organ and resumed his normal life (minus the booze, we hope).

But it is his father’s determination to resort to law that strikes me: surely his protective paternal instincts could have been deployed much earlier, including handcuffing his son to the hospital bed (he would surely find any judge sympathetic).

Brian Anderson admits that his son is an alcoholic. Alcoholism doesn’t happen overnight. According to a petition set up in Gareth’s name, he has been drinking from an early age. So what was Mr Anderson Sr doing when his son took the first steps on the lager-lined road to the emergency ward?

It may seem harsh that doctors will not make an exception, given that Gareth is critically ill. Their stance would also seem perverse in the face of research published in the British Medical Journal in 2004 that looked at liver transplantation for people who had drunk themselves into ill health. The authors wrote: “The length of abstinence before transplantation does not reliably predict abstinence afterwards, so no justification exists for a fixed arbitrary period ... death may be the price of proving abstinence.”

So it may be in Mr Anderson’s case. And there has been wide discussion of whether it is wise or justified to make moral judgments when deciding whom to treat. Doctors advise against rationing on moral grounds.

This is why we give chemotherapy to the woman who smokes 40 a day, and stomach-stapling to the man addicted to doughnuts. It would be an unkind and unjust society that did otherwise.

But organ donation is trickier. A liver that goes to Mr Anderson is a liver that is denied to somebody else. If he is seeking lager (beer) from the comfort of his hospital bed, can we be confident that he will spurn it when discharged? Here is the nub: we regard organs as a gift, not a medical right. These precious, limited resources flow not from drug companies or government coffers, but from the untimely misfortune of others (including, in China, from executed prisoners, it seems). That is why we resist the idea that they should be traded for money, like so many bags of sugar or barrels of oil.

So we ask that those who want them demonstrate that they are worthy of such largesse. In Mr Anderson’s case, it is six months on the wagon. The six-month rule is as much about making liver transplants for alcoholics socially palatable as it is about the chances of relapse.

Youth is not a compelling reason why Mr Anderson should jump the queue: he might be more deserving than a 60-year-old unreformed soak, but, hand on heart, I do not see why he should usurp, say, a 30-year-old father who has shunned the bottle for six months because it is his only chance to watch his children grow up.

“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 transplant.

World Transplant Games wrap-up in Australia

View larger photo of DonateLife Beach Walk'n talk with giant beach balls

watch video

Milena Stojceska goldcoast.com.au

August 29 - ALTHOUGH Australia won the most gold medals, the UK ended on top at this year's 17th annual World Transplant Games which closed on the Gold Coast this afternoon.

Australia's team finished wih 85 gold medals, but the UK's more consistent performances saw them top the medal tally with a total of 214 medals, 78 of them gold. (For results and medal standing click here.)

Medal tallies were the furthest thing from the athletes' minds this afternoon, however as they gathered at Griffith University for the Games' closing ceremony.

Pictures: World Transplant Games closing ceremony.

A group of 2000 participants 990 of them athletes who have undergone organ transplants supporters, locals and spectators gathered and will say their farewells at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre for a gala dinner tonight.

Games chair Chris Thomas said his main hope for the Games was to gain exposure for organ donations in Queensland.

"Hopefully this will get more awareness out there about organ donations and more people will be willing to donate now," he said.

"There's no other event like it the fact that these people are still alive because of the generosity of someone else."

The next World Transplant Games will be hosted in Sweden in 2011.

“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 transplant.

Volunteers raise funds to help girl receive liver transplant

Idasia Howington

RockyMountTelegram.com
North Carolina - Local volunteers are raising funds to help a Charlotte girl with local ties receive a life-saving liver transplant.

Born May 14, 2008, Idasia Howington was diagnosed with Biliary Atresia, and doctors at Children’s Hospital Medical Center in Cincinnati recommended that she receive a liver transplant. Local volunteers and family members are working to raise an estimated $60,000 for the operation.

Family members turned for help to the Children’s Organ Transplant Association, an Indiana-based charity organization dedicated to organizing and assisting communities in raising funds for patients who need transplants. A fundraising chicken dinner sale is scheduled from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sept. 11 at the Community Building at 5905 Harristown Road. Plates cost $7 each, and free delivery is available for orders of 10 or more.

Donations also can be made at any Wachovia Bank branch using the account number of 300002511773 or mailed to the Children’s Organ Transplant Association, 2501 W. COTA Drive, Bloomington, IN 47403. Checks or money orders should be made out to COTA, with “In honor of Idasia H.” written on the memo line. Credit card donations also can be made online at http://www.COTAforIdasiaH.com.

Idasia is the daughter of Courtney Howington of Whitakers and LaTora Battle of the Battleboro community, who now live in Charlotte. She is the granddaughter of Letha Smith of Rocky Mount and Patricia Howington of Whitakers.

For more information or to volunteer for the fundraising effort, call 252-314-4709 or 252-937-4778 or email vivian@embarqmail.com.

“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 transplant.

China Launches Organ Donor System to Reduce Dependence on Executed Prisoners

Reuters

BEIJING, Aug 26 (Reuters) - China launched its first national organ donation system in a bid to crack down on organ trafficking and create a source for transplants other than executed prisoners, who currently make up the majority of donors.

Executed criminals account for 65 percent of organ donors, the China Daily said on Wednesday, in an unusual admission of the prevalence of the practice.

"(Executed prisoners) are definitely not a proper source for organ transplants," Vice Health Minister Huang Jiefu told the paper.

Nearly 1.5 million people in China need organ transplants, but every year only 10,000 people can get one, according to the Health Ministry's website www.moh.gov.cn.

The shortage means that desperate patients bid up the price, and contributes to corruption and unfairness in organ allocation.

China's 2007 organ transplant law bans organ trafficking. But illegal transplants from living donors, and tales of foreigners travelling to China for the transplants, are frequently reported by media and the Ministry of Health.

"Transplants should not be a privilege for the rich," said Huang.

Chinese law only allows organs to be donated by living people in the case of blood relatives and spouses.

But organ middlemen who specialise in faking documents have helped bring living transplants to 40 percent of donations, from 15 percent in 2006, Chen Zhonghua, organ transplant specialist at Tongji Hospital in Shanghai, told the China Daily.

The new donation system, piloting in 10 provinces and cities, will encourage post-death donations and start a fund to provide financial aid to the needy and to donors' families.

"The system is in the public interest and will benefit patients regardless of social status and wealth in terms of fairness in organ allocation and better procurement," Huang said. (Reporting by Liu Zhen, Sally Huang and Lucy Hornby; Editing by Alex Richardson)

“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 transplant.

Heart transplant recipient climbs 10 Teton peaks

By MEAD GRUVER (AP)

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Heart transplant recipient Kelly Perkins said she was already back to her fitness routine just two days after climbing 10 peaks in western Wyoming's famous Teton Range.

Perkins made the series of climbs called the Grand Traverse last week to spread the word that people can be active after undergoing transplants — a message she hopes will encourage more people to be organ donors.

"You don't have to be 100 percent but you can forge along and accomplish some great things," Perkins, 47, said Monday in a phone interview from her home in Laguna Niguel, Calif. "I'm amazed that my body can respond like it does."

Perkins and her husband, Craig Perkins, started climbing Wednesday, conquering both Teewinot Mountain (12,325 feet) and Mount Owen (12,928 feet) while being led by two guides.

On Thursday, the group hiked to the Lower Saddle between Grand Teton and Middle Teton. There, they met up with a team of six cardiac rehabilitation nurses from Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center in Idaho Falls. Together, they climbed Grand Teton (13,776 feet) Friday. While the nurses headed home, the Perkinses and guides went on to climb Middle Teton (12,804 feet).

They finished Saturday after climbing South Teton (12,514 feet) and five smaller peaks: the Ice Cream Cone, Gilkey Tower, Spalding Peak, Cloudveil Dome and Nez Perce Peak.

Local mountain guides say only about half those who attempt the Grand Traverse succeed, usually due to bad weather. The Perkinses lucked out: Rain socked in the Tetons just before and just after their trek. The sun was out for nearly all of their expedition.

Knocking off so many mountains in four days required as much as 16 hours of hiking, boulder scrambling and technical climbing each day, Perkins said.

"There were times when I was just so out of breath, and I would just have to stop often. It was difficult. But I got through it," she said.

On Monday, Perkins reported that she was back to the ashtanga yoga routine that keeps her fit.

The 5-foot-2, 100-pound Perkins has climbed several of the world's well-known peaks since falling ill with a racing heartbeat in 1992 and undergoing a heart transplant in 1995. They include the Matterhorn in Switzerland, Mount Fuji in Japan, Kilimanjaro in Tanzania and, last year, the face of Half Dome in Yosemite.

The cardiac rehabilitation nurses accompanied Perkins up Grand Teton not just to promote her cause, but also to see how she does it. One of the nurses, Mary Duncan, said confronting the mental challenge of climbing a mountain is a lesson she has taken back to the hospital.

"We always tell our patients, 'It's a day at a time — just take it a day at a time,'" Duncan said. "I can liken climbing to that because it's just one pitch at a time, one rope length at a time."

For Perkins, one of the biggest challenges of climbing is how her heart takes a long time to get moving in response to physical activity — typical for heart transplant recipients.

Climbing guide Kevin Mahoney, with Jackson Hole-based Exum Mountain Guides, said Perkins seemed to have less trouble climbing than with stops and starts while hiking and scrambling.

"The more technical it got, the easier it was for her," she said.

He said Perkins did well, soldiering on through difficult situations.

"I was just really impressed with her ability to just always be positive with anything," she said. "She definitely put a smile on her face even though you know it was hard work for her."

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

“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 transplant.

Heart & Lung transplant recipient pays it forward by raising money for the hospital

Walk a feet after a double transplant

By Tara Dundon Peterboroughtoday.co.uk

A WOMAN given a life-saving heart and double lung transplant now hopes to raise thousands for the doctors and nurses who gave her a "new lease of life".

Lisa Williams (32) was diagnosed with a hole in the heart 12 years ago, and while many people can live a long life with the condition, she found it increasingly difficult to breathe and stay active.

At a check-up in December 2007 she was told that her condition was so bad that a heart and double lung transplant was her only chance of survival.

Mrs Williams, of Larks Rise, Bourne, said: “When I was told my condition had worsened I just had to try to get on with life for the sake of my family.

“I wasn’t given a time limit and I was certain they wouldn’t be able to find me a heart and two lungs in time.

“Before the operation, I had to carry an oxygen cylinder around for most of the day to help me breathe. I often went blue and I was always out of breath.

“I even found it difficult to talk.”

After six months on the waiting list, Lisa got the life-saving call she had been hoping for, and was rushed to Papworth Hospital, near Huntingdon, where she underwent the complex, nine-hour operation.

Now she wants to thank hospital staff by raising money to buy new medical equipment. She intends to complete a six-mile walk on Sunday, September 27 around Grafham Water – something she would never have been able to do if it were not for the transplant.

She added: “A few days after the transplant I was walking about – I felt like I had been given a new lease of life.

“Now I can go for walks and the gym. It is like being a new woman.

“But there are still so many people out there like me who need the help of the wonderful doctors and nurses at Papworth, so I feel it is important I give something back to them.”

Lisa’s sister Kerry Machin will also be taking part in the walk. She added: “It is hard to believe all that has happened in a year. Lisa has turned her life around now and wants to give something back to those that have helped give her the life she has today.”

To sponsor Lisa or make a donation to Papworth Hospital visit http://www.bemycharity.com for more information.

“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 transplant.

Spain leads the world in organ transplants

By Think Spain

Spain leads the world in terms of the number of organ transplants carried out with 34.2 per million inhabitants, almost twice the EU average (18.2) and eight points ahead of the USA (26.3).

According to the latest issue of the Transplant Newsletter, official publication of the Council of Europe's Transplant Commission, 14.3% of all transplants carried out in the EU in 2008 were performed in Spain.

99,321 organ transplants were carried out across the globe in 2008, a 2.6% increase on the previous year. 68,250 of all transplants were kidney, 19,850 liver, 5,179 heart, 3,245 lung and 2,797 pancreas.

Europe, which had seen a downward trend in organ donation over the past few years, seems to have reversed that trend with 18.2 donations per million inhabitants compared with 16.8 the previous year.

The number of organ donors is on the rise in Spain and in the UK, but conversely is dropping in Germany, Holland and Belgium.

Despite the verall rise in the number of donors in the EU as a whole, the number of transplants being carried out has stagnated at around 28,000 per year, because of the progressive ageing of the donor population.

The report also cites the number of people waiting for donor organs. On 31st December 2008 there were 63,107 Europeans waiting for a transplant (61.905 en 2007).

It is estimated that on average 12 Europeans die every day waiting for a transplant.

“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 transplant.

FDA Launches Center for Tobacco Products

It's gratifying to see the FDA taking it's first steps to reduce illness and death caused by tobacco products.

Cigarette smoking causes an estimated 438,000 deaths, or about 1 of every 5 deaths, each year, according to estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Adults who smoke cigarettes die 14 years earlier than nonsmokers. The leading cause of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or COPD, including emphysema, is tobacco smoking. COPD is projected to be the third leading cause of death worldwide by 2020 due to an increase in smoking rates and demographic changes in many countries.

As a lung transplant recipient I have an opportunity to meet and chat with other recipients and those on waiting lists on a regular basis. COPD is one of the major reasons they require a transplant in order to live. It's easy to see from the following table how big a role smoking plays in lung transplantation.

As of 2005, the most common reasons for lung transplantation in the United States were:

• 27% chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or COPD, including emphysema;


• 16% idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis;


• 14% cystic fibrosis;


• 12% idiopathic (formerly known as "primary") pulmonary hypertension;


• 5% alpha 1-antitrypsin deficiency;


• 2% replacing previously transplanted lungs that have since failed;


• 24% other causes, including bronchiectasis and sarcoidosis.

Medscape Pulmonary Medicine

August 20, 2009 — The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced the launch of a new division, the Center for Tobacco Products, "in an historic effort to curb the hundreds of thousands of deaths caused by those products each year."

The new center will oversee the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, signed into law by President Barack Obama in June 2009. The law requires that the FDA set performance standards, review premarket applications for new and modified-risk tobacco products, and establish and enforce advertising and promotion restrictions.

The Center for Tobacco Products' first director will be Lawrence Deyton, MD, MSPH, an expert on veterans' health issues, public health, and tobacco use, and a clinical professor of medicine and health policy at George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences in Washington, DC.

Between 1999 and 2007, Dr. Deyton revamped the Veteran Administration's smoking and tobacco use cessation programs. Current smoking rates among veterans enrolled in the programs fell from 33% to 22% during his 9-year tenure.

"We are thrilled to announce Dr. Deyton's appointment as director of the Center for Tobacco Products and look forward to him joining the agency," said FDA Commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg, MD, according to an FDA news release announcing the center's launch. "He is the rare combination of public health expert, administrative leader, scientist, and clinician."

Cigarette smoking causes an estimated 438,000 deaths, or about 1 of every 5 deaths, each year, according to estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Adults who smoke cigarettes die 14 years earlier than nonsmokers.

The Center for Tobacco Products "will use the best available science to guide the development and implementation of effective public health strategies to reduce the burden of illness and death caused by tobacco products," the FDA said in the release.

“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 transplant.

Former Boeing 747 pilot doing well following double-lung transplant

Life or death: Marco Island transplant survivor likes new organ donor system

By Jeff Weiner Naplesnews.com

MARCO ISLAND, Florida — Ken Ryngala used to fly. Then, a crippling disease left him barely able to walk across his house.

He lost his wings when he lost his lungs. Then, he nearly lost his life.

The state recently instituted a new organ donor registration system. The system, called the Joshua Abbott Organ and Tissue Donor Registry, allows Floridians to register themselves as organ donors from the comfort of their own homes, an innovation that Ryngala hopes will lead to an increase in life-saving donations.

That’s because Ryngala,, a former Boeing 747 pilot who received a double lung transplant in 2007 in Tampa, knows what it’s like to wait on a list for a life-granting call that may or may not come in time.

Ryngala, of Marco Island, was diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Idiopathic, by its definition, means that the cause of the disease was unclear. However, the prognosis wasn’t.

Ryngala said he was told that, without a transplant, he would die.

“I think I had an unusual reaction to it,” said Ryngala, who said he was calm when he heard the news.

He said that he was focused on the finality of the diagnosis.

“I knew what day I was going to die,” he said.

So, like thousands of others across the nation, Ryngala found himself on a list, waiting in line for an organ. Nationwide, there are more than 102,000 people waiting for organs, including more than 3,600 in Florida alone, according to the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network.

Wait times for organs can stretch for months or even years. According to Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network data, more than 2,500 patients have died on waiting lists in the U.S. in the current year alone, and more than 86,000 since 1995.

Yet, of the more than 18 million people estimated to be living in the state, fewer than 5 million are registered as organ donors, according to Donate Life Florida.

That’s a number that Jennifer Krouse, a spokeswoman with the organization, hopes to see increase dramatically.

“We sure do hope so,” said Krouse, who touted the simplicity and accessibility of the new system as its most important attributes.

“The new registry allows for 24-hour-a-day access,” she said, adding that registration takes only minutes.

Krouse called the previous system, which required people interested in becoming organ donors to wait in line at the Department of Motor Vehicles, “obsolete” and promised that the new system, despite its easy accessibility, is “super secure.”

However, both Krouse and Ryngala admit that online registration cannot lead to the kind of dramatic increase in registered donors that they hope to achieve. Krouse said that her organization is focusing on education through cooperation with schools and businesses and through the use of public service announcements.

“Really, we have quite a long way to go,” said Krouse of her goal to increase registration and cut down on wait times that can be fatal to those who don’t find a match.

Ryngala was lucky in that regard. He said he only spent about a month on the waiting list; he was bumped up due to the severity of his condition. Still, he said he was only barely holding on when the call came at 2 a.m. to tell him that his organ had arrived.

“When I got the phone call, frankly, my doctor told me I was on my last gasp,” said Ryngala, who said he was on oxygen 24 hours a day.

“I happened to get a very good set of lungs,” Ryngala said. “Not everybody’s that lucky.”

Lucky may be an understatement. Transplants are always tricky, and there’s always a possibility of rejection.

Ryngala’s, so far, seems to have been a complete success.

“I feel like a million bucks,” Ryngala said. “It’s unbelievable.”

Ryngala said he was back to work as a flight instructor within three months of his surgery. Now, he’s waiting for the Federal Aviation Administration to decide whether he is healthy enough to get his wings back, so he can get back in the cockpit and fly again.

Ryngala emphasized the importance of educating the public, in the hopes that more people will choose to donate.

“It’s the most generous thing you can give,” he said.

Ryngala said that he understands if some people have personal or religious objections to organ donation. But the one thing he won’t accept is the idea that people, who would otherwise donate, don’t because they don’t know how to sign up.

“If people aren’t donating simply because they’re not aware, that’s a travesty,” Ryngala said. “It’s clear that there are so many people waiting that could be saved.”

According to Krouse, within about a week of the new system’s July 28 launch, more than 1,400 people already had registered online, leading her to call the launch “a success.”

Ryngala hopes that increased awareness will boost the registry further, helping others to find what he has: A new lease on life.

“I wouldn’t have known who won the election or the Yankees game yesterday; I wouldn’t be here,” he said, before hastily correcting himself.

“I guess I should say the Rays game,” he said.

Donate Life Florida, the organization responsible for the new registry, is a nonprofit organization that was contracted by the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration in April to replace the previous system, which was considered archaic. It receives its funding through voluntary $1 donations collected when people renew their license or vehicle tag.

Donors are kept anonymous, but Ryngala said he was given the option to write a letter to the family of his donor. But he said he hasn’t done so just yet.

“I was waiting to get my wings back so I could tell them,” he said.

* * * * *

Anyone interested in signing up as a donor or updating donor registration information can do so online, at http://www.DonateLifeFlorida.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 transplant.

FDA Strengthens warning for CellCept

The following warning was posted by the FDA.

CellCept (mycophenolate mofetil) August 2009
Audience: Renal, cardiac, and hepatic transplantation healthcare professionals

[Posted 08/14/2009] Roche notified healthcare professionals that cases of Pure Red Cell Aplasia (PRCA) have been reported in patients treated with CellCept. The WARNINGS and ADVERSE REACTIONS sections of the CellCept Prescribing Information have been revised to reflect this new safety information.

PRCA is a type of anemia in which there is a selective reduction of red blood cell precursors on bone marrow examination. Patients with PRCA may present with fatigue, lethargy, and/or abnormal paleness of the skin (pallor). In some cases, PRCA was found to be reversible with dose reduction or cessation of CellCept therapy. In transplant patients, however, reduced immunosuppression may place the graft at risk.

See the Drug warning issued by Roche Laboratories Inc.

See CellCept Prescribing Information, revised.

“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 transplant.

Palliative Care Referrals After Lung Transplantation

Palliative Care Referrals After Lung Transplantation in Major Transplant Centers in the United States

This article in Medscape Pulmonary Medicine notes that lung transplantation improves survival and quality of life for patients with end-stage lung disease. However, long-term success in achieving these outcomes is limited due to the development of chronic rejection and the adverse effects of the requisite immunosuppression

By 5 years after transplantation, 43% of lung transplant recipients (LTR) develop chronic rejection. Compared with a survival rate of >80% at 4 years in LTR without chronic rejection, the overall mortality rate following the onset of chronic rejection is 40% within 2 years of diagnosis. Even recipients with chronic rejection who opt for retransplant experience higher morbidity and mortality compared with their initial transplant procedure.

The authors also note that from the onset of chronic rejection until death, LTR experience frequent hospitalizations (up to 14 readmissions) and exacerbations (up to 17 visits to the emergency department). In addition, LTR commonly experience higher levels of psychological distress (e.g., anxiety and depression) than other organ recipients, manage an average of 17 physical symptoms and report a low sense of mastery for managing their illness. Although both LTR and their families are typically satisfied with medical care during the early recovery phase after lung transplant, they are critical about the lack of continuity of care as their health condition deteriorates. Family caregivers report high levels of subjective burden, symptoms of depression and anxiety, stress related to tackling organizational difficulties, and financial burdens. They also express the need for more information, better communication, and better access to psychosocial support.

The authors also say that future research should include developing and testing interventions and strategies to integrate palliative care into lung transplant care to better meet the needs of LTR and their families as health declines.

Read the Full article for study methods, results, discussion and the author's conclusions.

“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 transplant.

Brief Intermission

I will be away for a few days. Regular posts will resume when I return. Meanwhile, please browse previous posts and the extensive links. Thanks.

“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 transplant.

Longest survivor of heart transplant dies

San Francisco Business Times

Tony Huesman died of cancer 31 years after getting a heart transplant at Stanford Hospital & Clinics. He was the longest survivor with a single heart transplant.

Huesman, from Dayton, Ohio, got his transplanted heart in August 1978 in an operation by surgeon Norman Shumway, M.D., in Stanford’s then ten-year-old transplant program.

He died Aug. 9, Stanford said. He was 51.

In high school Huesman was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy, a progressive disease that weakens the heart.

Though experts told Huesman he would likely live five years after the surgery, he went back to Dayton, worked in a sporting goods store, and got married in 1997.

His sister, Linda Lamb, also got a heart transplant at Stanford in 1983. She died in 1991.

“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 transplant.

Bioequivalence of generic anti-rejection drugs challenged

Astellas Pharma just issued the following press release in response to the FDA's denial of their petition to protect patients from substitute immunosuppressants. Astellas is the maker of tacrolimus (Prograf®) which is widely used in organ transplantation. As a lung transplant recipient I would be very concerned if I was switched from the brand name to a generic version of my anti-rejection drugs. Generic drugs use different fillers and binders which could affect biovailability and the correct blood levels are extremely important to maintain a stable defense against organ rejection.

Organ transplant recipients must take immunosuppressive drugs for life to prevent allograft rejection. In lung transplants a triple regimen, typically consisting of a calcineurin inhibitor (i.e. Tacrolimus or Cyclosporine), an antiproliferative (CellCept or Imuran) agent and a corticosteroid (Prednisone) is the most common immunosuppression regimen used to prevent allograft rejection. Immunosuppressive drugs with different mechanisms of action and adverse effects are used in combination to maximize immunosuppression and minimize dose-related toxicities. It's been my experience in the past that many generics claim 'therapeutic equivalence' as opposed to bioequivalence.

DEERFIELD, Ill., Aug. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Astellas Pharma US, Inc. ("Astellas") announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has substantially denied the company's Citizen Petition to ensure the safe and effective use of immunosuppressants (also called anti-rejection medications) used to prevent rejection in organ transplant patients. In their petition, Astellas requested that the FDA take additional measures to protect transplant recipients, a unique and vulnerable patient population, from substitute critical dose immunosuppressant drugs that have not demonstrated bioequivalence in rigorous clinical trials in transplant patients.

In response, Astellas plans to file a complaint for declaratory and injunctive relief in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. challenging the FDA's decision to apply standard bioequivalence testing for the approval of generic immunosuppressant drugs, like tacrolimus. These critical dose drugs have a narrow therapeutic margin for safety and efficacy. Under the FDA's decision, bioequivalence testing is required only in healthy volunteers, not the patient population that will be treated with the new product. Bioequivalence testing measures how closely the absorption of the active ingredient in a generic drug mirrors that of an innovator drug. A generic drug must demonstrate that it falls within an acceptable range of absorption, as compared to the innovator drug. Absorption, and the clinical effect of these critical dose drugs, is affected by a number of factors, including interactions with other medications, and concurrent medical conditions. Transplant patients are at high risk for organ rejection and are often dealing with a host of medical issues, as well as taking an average of ten medications.

Additionally, the FDA denied Astellas' request for labeling changes that require physicians to be notified whenever a substituted oral formulation is about to be provided to a transplant patient so that the physician can determine whether additional drug blood concentration testing should be done to ensure the health and safety of the patient. Astellas is also challenging this part of the FDA's decision.

"As a leader in the field of immunology, Astellas is firmly committed to the appropriate care and treatment of transplant patients. Transplant physicians are the most qualified to make decisions about their patient's treatment and should be informed when the patient's medication is switched from one formulation to another," said William E. Fitzsimmons, Pharm.D., M.S., Senior Vice President, Development. "This is a specialized category of medicine and transplant patients are vulnerable to small differences in drug concentrations, which can lead to significant differences in their treatment outcome. We look forward to open discussion about this important issue."

About Organ Transplantation

There are nearly 100,000 patients on the waiting list for an organ transplant and 4,000 patients are added to the list each month. Each day, on average, seventeen patients on the list die waiting for a life-saving organ transplant.

"Due to the scarcity of organs and the potential for rejection, maintaining the delicate balance and life-preserving functions of transplanted organs is of primary importance," said Goran B. Klintmalm, M.D., Ph.D., Director, Transplantation Services, Baylor University Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, Chairman and Chief, Baylor Regional Transplant Institute, and Immediate Past-President of the American Society of Transplant Surgeons. "For more than 25 years immunosuppressant therapy has been a standard of care for transplant patients to help prevent organ rejection. It is important that the efficacy and safety profile of these drugs remain consistent to ensure transplant patients are able to receive the best possible care."

Post-transplant care is dedicated to maintaining the health of transplanted organs and a major obstacle to graft survival is rejection by the patient's immune system. Immunosuppressive drugs are the foundation of successful post-transplant care. A key to successful outcomes is patient adherence to a prescribed medication regimen. Small blood-level changes that result from changes in immunosuppressant therapy could tip the very delicate balance needed to maintain a healthy organ. Most often, the initial stages of organ rejection can be detected only by blood tests.

About Prograf(R) (tacrolimus)

Prograf(R) (tacrolimus capsules and injection) is indicated for the prophylaxis of organ rejection in patients receiving allogeneic liver, kidney, or heart transplants. It is recommended that Prograf be used concomitantly with adrenal corticosteroids. Because of the risk of anaphylaxis, Prograf injection should be reserved for patients unable to take Prograf capsules orally. In heart and kidney transplant recipients, it is recommended that Prograf be used in conjunction with azathioprine or mycophenolate mofetil. The safety and efficacy of the use of Prograf with sirolimus have not been established.

Important Safety Information

WARNING

Increased susceptibility to infection and the possible development of lymphoma may result from immunosuppression. Only physicians experienced in immunosuppressive therapy and management of organ transplant patients should prescribe Prograf. The physician responsible for maintenance therapy should have complete information requisite for the follow-up of the patient.

Prograf is contraindicated in patients with a hypersensitivity to tacrolimus. Prograf injection is contraindicated in patients with a hypersensitivity to castor oil. Patients receiving Prograf injection should be under continuous observation for at least the first 30 minutes following the start of infusion and at frequent intervals thereafter. If signs or symptoms of anaphylaxis occur, the infusion should be stopped.

Insulin-dependent post-transplant diabetes mellitus was reported in 11% to 22% of Prograf-treated liver, kidney, and heart transplant patients with no prior history of diabetes mellitus. Black and Hispanic kidney transplant patients were at increased risk. Insulin dependence was reversible in 15% to 45% of patients at 1 year.

Prograf has been associated with nephrotoxicity, particularly when used in high doses. In particular, to avoid excess nephrotoxicity, Prograf should not be used simultaneously with cyclosporine. Prograf or cyclosporine should be discontinued at least 24 hours prior to initiating the other. In the presence of elevated Prograf or cyclosporine concentrations, dosing with the other drug usually should be further delayed.

Use of Prograf with sirolimus in heart transplant patients in a US study was associated with increased risk of wound healing complications, renal function impairment, and insulin-dependent post-transplant diabetes, and is not recommended.

Mild to severe hyperkalemia was reported in 31% of kidney transplant recipients, in 45% and 13% of liver transplant recipients in the US and European randomized trials, respectively, and in 8% of heart transplant recipients in a European randomized trial, and may require treatment. Serum potassium levels should be monitored and potassium-sparing diuretics should not be used during Prograf therapy (see PRECAUTIONS).

Neurotoxicity, including tremor, headache, and other changes in motor function, mental status, and sensory function, was reported in approximately 55% of liver transplant recipients in the two randomized studies. Tremor occurred more often in Prograf-treated kidney transplant (54%) and heart transplant patients (15%) compared with cyclosporine-treated patients. Seizures have occurred in adult and pediatric patients receiving Prograf. Coma and delirium also have been associated with high plasma concentrations of tacrolimus.

In post marketing experience, patients treated with tacrolimus have been reported to develop posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome (PRES). If PRES is suspected or diagnosed, immediate reduction of immunosuppression is advised. Activation of latent viral infections, including BK virus-associated nephropathy and JC virus-associated progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML), has also been reported. These viral infections may lead to serious, including fatal, outcomes.

The principal adverse reactions of Prograf include tremor, headache, hypertension, gastrointestinal disturbance, abnormal renal function, hyperglycemia, leukopenia, CMV infection, infection, and hyperlipemia.

For full prescribing information please visit http://www.prograf.com or call Astellas at 1-800-727-7003.

About Astellas Pharma US, Inc.

Astellas Pharma US, Inc., located in Deerfield, Illinois, is a U.S. affiliate of Tokyo-based Astellas Pharma Inc. Astellas is a pharmaceutical company dedicated to improving the health of people around the world through the provision of innovative and reliable pharmaceutical products. The organization is committed to becoming a global category leader in focused areas by combining outstanding R&D and marketing capabilities. In the US, Astellas markets products in the areas of Immunology, Urology, Anti-Infectives, Cardiovascular and Dermatology. For more information about Astellas Pharma US, Inc., please visit our website at http://www.us.astellas.com.


SOURCE Astellas Pharma US, 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 transplant.

'30 die' in organ transplant wait

The idea of an 'opt-out' or 'presumed consent' system of organ donation in the UK is still being debated and according to this article the British Medical Association is advocating the adoption of a "soft" system of presumed consent.

The British Medical Association (BMA) is calling for urgent action after it estimated 30 people died waiting for organ transplants in Wales in a year.

From BBC News

It said it believed the assembly government should introduce a "soft" system of presumed consent.

An assembly health committee last year said ministers should not seek powers to bring in such a system, where people would have to opt out of being donors.

Health Minister Edwina Hart is now considering responses to consultation.

BMA Cymru Wales submitted a response to the consultation, saying the current organ donation process needed to be overhauled "sooner rather than later, before more lives are lost".

It estimated that 30 people died while still on the organ donation register in the past year in Wales - with 150 people dying in the last five years.

Dr Richard Lewis, Welsh Secretary of the BMA, said a system of presumed consent would produce a far higher potential donor rate than at present.

"The main difficulty with the current system is that where, as in the majority of cases, relatives do not know what their loved ones wishes are, they frequently, and understandably, opt for the default position, which is not to donate," he said.

"This would be addressed by the introduction of an opt-out system where the default position would change in favour of donation.

"We recognise this is a subject many people hold strong views about and as such, those who do not want to donate their organs will sign up to opt out."

He urged the assembly government to take action and apply for the legislation needed to bring in a new system.

"The time really has come, before more people die waiting in vain, the Welsh Assembly Government needs to stop procrastinating and seek an LCO (Legislative Competence Order) from Westminster to bring in a soft system of presumed consent," he added.

'Public debate'

However, the British Organ Donor Society is against the opt-out system, saying they think education is the key.

Chairman Ray Pearson, whose daughter donated organs to seven people after she died in a road traffic accident, said: "The answer to the problem is education. The best form of education is is the education of children. The children then will educate the parents."

Joyce Robins, co-director of the patients' group, Patient Concern, said: "The BMA is using its considerable influence to mould public opinion on the basis of misinformation and distorted facts about the supply of organs".

She added: "They make sweeping statements about presumed consent producing a far higher number of organs".

In September 2008, the health minister rejected the assembly health committee's recommendation that ministers should not seek powers to bring in presumed consent.

She then ordered a series of debates to gather public opinion on possible changes to organ donations in Wales.

A spokesman for the assembly government said officials were now considering the results of the consultation.

"We have held a public debate on the possibility of changing legislation and have consulted on options to increase organ donation," he said.

"Officials are now considering the responses to the consultation and will be advising Mrs Hart on options available to the assembly government."

“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 transplant.

World Organ Donor Awareness Week 2009 Aug 8-14

Medindia.net

Around the world organ donor awareness week is earmarked by different countries at different dates as a week to commemorate the ultimate act of kindness by donors and donor families who give strangers a second lease of life. During this week, health experts and NGOs highlight the importance of organ and tissue donation in saving lives. It is also the time when people are encouraged to discuss and debate organ and tissue donation, talk about it with their families and friends, tell their families about their decision to become a donor and become a “card carrying donor.”

There is a huge gap between demand and supply as far as organ transplant is concerned. In most countries there are thousands of people on organ transplant waiting lists at any given time. Sadly, many of them die waiting. An organ or a tissue transplant can significantly improve the quality of life of the recipient and sometimes it is the only hope of survival for the patient.

Organ donation can happen when:-

• a deceased donor can give eyes, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas, heart, intestinal organs etc


• a living donor can give a kidney, or a part of the liver, lung, intestine, or pancreas

Donated tissues like skin, bone and heart valves from people who have previously committed to donation can improve the quality of life for recipients and even save lives.

Real Life Stories of Changed Lives

The Internet is replete with real life stories of people bearing witness to the dramatic improvement in the quality of their life after having received an organ or tissue donation. A 20-year-old New Zealand woman explains how she was in great pain, felt very sick with severe itching and was shunting in and out of hospitals before she had a liver transplant that gave a whole new meaning to her life. Pursuing a Nursing degree she gratefully remembers the unknown donor who died and ‘made her whole.’

Ms. Schoelles from US wanted to be an organ and tissue donor even as a young girl and had legally registered to donate her organs. When she was 35 years old—a loving wife and mother of five children, she had brain aneurysm while driving her car and after a marathon effort to save her life she was declared brain dead. Her clearly documented wish to be a donor recorded in her state donor registry rendered her an ideal candidate for organ and tissue donation. Seven people received lifesaving organ transplants and many more were healed and strengthened through tissue transplants thanks to Ms Schoelles’ compassionate gift of life.

Hithedran, an energetic young 16-year-old Indian lad had a fatal crash that left him brain dead. Amidst their grief, his parents—both doctors, decided to donate his organs and alerted the city hospitals. In record time his heart was transported from one end of the city to the other with the help of traffic police that cleared all signals enroute, and Hithendran’s heart now beats within a bubbly young girl who wouldn’t have survived otherwise.

Misperceptions that hinder donor registration

A survey done in the US recently revealed some common confusion that clouds the mind while contemplating donation of organs:

• People erroneously believe that a person can recover from ‘brain death’


• Some people think doctors may not try very hard to save their lives if they know about their wish to be a donor


• Superstitious belief that the dead body without the vital organs is incomplete and the dead person will not ‘rest in peace’


• People assume there is a buy-sell black market for organs and tissue transplant


• Many people who wish to donate their organs and tissues are not sure that they will be acceptable as donors. Actually, age or health conditions should not prevent people from becoming potential donors

Need to raise awareness on organ donation

It is important to raise awareness about donating organs before it is too late. When one human being can give a new lease of life to 7 or nearly 10 others through organ donation and a better life to many others through donated tissues, the focus should be on sensitizing as many people as possible to the pressing need to register their willingness to donate organs and tissues. Many countries all over the world use Organ Donor Awareness Week as a platform to educate the public on organ donation and get them to sign their willingness on Organ Donor Registries that serve as lifelines to people waiting to receive organ donations.

Many potential donations fail to happen because the family members do not know the person’s wish to be an organ donor. Hence it is important for people to register their consent with the State Organ Donor Registry and inform their nearest kith and kin about the same. Donors should always carry their donor card along with them while stepping out of their house, so that in case of an emergency the authorities can realize the bearer of the card is an organ donor and can take immediate steps to retrieve the organs and tissues before the specified time lapses.

So hesitate no further, decide to save lives and pledge your organs today!

Indian Postal Department issues Special Postal Cover for Organ Donor Week.

Download a Donor Card in English, English & Tamil, Telugu, and English & Malayalam.

“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 transplant.

Donald Marshall Jr, double-lung transplant recipient who was wrongly convicted dies

I had the pleasure of meeting and chatting with Donald Marshall on several occasions. He was very personable, polite and friendly and I wish his family and friends my deepest condolences on his passing.

CBC News

Donald Marshall Jr., the man at the center of one of Canada's highest-profile wrongful conviction cases, died in a Sydney, N.S., hospital on Thursday morning.

Marshall, 55, of Membertou, N.S., had been in the Cape Breton Regional Hospital in intensive care for several days because of complications* from his 2003 lung transplant, his brother, Simon, told CBC News.

(*His sister, Roseanne Sylvester, said Marshall suffered from kidney failure, which she linked to anti-rejection drugs he had been taking following a double lung transplant six years ago.)

His family said he had been terminally ill.

In 1971, Marshall was wrongfully convicted of murdering his friend, Sandy Seale, in Sydney's Wentworth Park. Marshall was just 17 years old when he received a life sentence for the murder that was later determined he had not committed.

He was released in 1982 after RCMP reviewed his case and cleared by the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal in 1983 after a witness came forward to say another man had stabbed Seale and several prior witness statements connecting Marshall to the death were recanted.

Though the Appeal Court declared him not guilty, Marshall was told he had contributed to his own conviction and that any miscarriage of justice was more apparent than real.

Roy Ebsary, an eccentric who bragged about being skilled with knives, was eventually convicted of manslaughter in Seale's death and spent a year in jail.

Systemic racism

Marshall, a Mi'kmaq, was exonerated by a royal commission in 1990 that determined systemic racism had contributed to his wrongful imprisonment.

The seven-volume report pointed the finger at police, judges, Marshall's original defence lawyers, Crown lawyers and bureaucrats.

"The criminal justice system failed Donald Marshall Jr. at virtually every turn from his arrest and wrongful conviction for murder in 1971 up to and even beyond his acquittal by the Court of Appeal in 1983," the report said.

Marshall was one of 13 children of Caroline and Donald Marshall Sr., once the grand chief of the Mi'kmaq nation. Following his exoneration, he became known as a "reluctant hero" to the First Nation for his role in fighting for native rights.

Marshall was also the central figure in a landmark 1999 Supreme Court of Canada ruling that guaranteed aboriginal treaty rights to fish and hunt.

He was the primary petitioner in the case after he had been arrested while fishing for eels out of season.

The high court ruling also confirmed that Mi'kmaq and Maliseet in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia have the right to earn a moderate livelihood from hunting, fishing and gathering.

Chief Lawrence Paul of the Millbrook First Nation near Truro said Marshall’s battle for native rights will be his lasting legacy.

"It was instrumental. It was a benefit to the economy of the First Nations across Atlantic Canada, and I think right across Canada," Paul said Thursday.

"So, his name should go down in history as a sympathetic individual who had the rights of the Mi’kmaq people close to his heart."

How the ruling applies to other aboriginals in Canada is still being interpreted.

Marshall will be missed by the people of the Membertou First Nation, where he grew up, resident Tracy Simon said Thursday.

She said she often saw Marshall driving around the community near Sydney, stopping to talk to people. Simon said the people of Membertou recognized all he had done for them.

"He knew what he was doing, and he had the power to do it. You know, especially with what happened to him, I guess everyone would listen to him," Simon said.

"But, he loved it…He loved helping out and getting things done where he seen things weren’t right. He’d get it done, he knew what to do.”

Marshall's family is holding a news conference at noon AT.

Marshall suffered from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and had received a double lung transplant in 2003. But he had been suffering from deteriorating health and complications for some time, according to his family.

Halifax provincial court Judge Anne Derrick, who represented Marshall at the inquiry and kept in close contact with him over the years, drove to Sydney Wednesday night to be at his bedside.

"There was a real atmosphere of support and community," she said. "There were a lot of family and friends there. I think it was really important that people had the opportunity to see him.

"I’m very grateful that I was able to go in and see Mr. Marshall. He was unconscious, but it felt good to pay him my respects."

Derrick said that Marshall died shortly after she left.

More legal troubles

Over the last several years, Marshall had faced new legal challenges, including a charge of attempted murder that was later dropped after he and the alleged victim, who Marshall was accused of trying to run over with a vehicle, agreed to participate in a healing circle.

Most recently, Marshall had faced charges of assaulting and threatening his wife.

That matter was scheduled to return to court later this month to deal with his lawyer's allegation that the legal process was abused after Marshall pleaded not guilty to some charges in the case. Defense lawyer Daniel Burman had said he would be seeking a stay of charges on the basis that the prosecution had contravened the notions of justice in the Charter of Rights.

“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 transplant.

Life transformed following lung transplant

This is another "feel good" story about the transformation that takes place following an organ transplant. I see stories like Brandon Beal's over and over again as people are changed by a second chance at life.

Fort Branch, Indiana man back at work after dual lung transplant

By PETE SWANSON Princeton Daily Clarion

Not quite 6 1/2 months after making history with a surgery that may have saved his life, Brandon Beal returned to work Monday.

“I think I’m ready to go back, ready to do something on our team, do something everyday,” the 29-year-old Fort Branch resident said of his return to TISA, where he is employed as a quality assessment technician.

“I think going back to work will build my endurance.”

The former Gibson Southern soccer player worked nearly six years at TISA in that role — auditing on the line, measuring seats and handling parts issues. But he had to step down in October 2007 due to the cystic fibrosis that sapped his energy and strength and required a lung transplant performed Jan. 21 by Dr. Alexander Patterson of Washington University in St. Louis.

The son of Larry and Marg Beal, and brother of former Gibson Southern and University of Southern Indiana soccer player Ali Beal-Edwards, became the the 1,000th adult to receive lung transplant surgery by Washington University’s medical staff at St. Louis’ Barnes-Jewish Hospital.

After a 90-day post-surgery treatment stay, Brandon returned home in late-April. Marg Beal spent those three months in St. Louis taking care of her son.

“There were two emotional times,” he said.

“First, when they telephoned and said they had a lung for me. We had to be in St. Louis within 12 hours.

“The second was when they wheeled me into surgery. Neither time did I fear for my life, but they were emotional because I was ready for surgery.”

Beal has come back a long way.

“The day after surgery, the medical staff had me walk in the hallway. They don’t want you stuck in bed,” he said.

“Even though I was holding on to the back of a wheelchair and had a few nurses alongside, walking was pretty tough. I didn’t have any balance.”

Beal also began walking on a treadmill.

“Probably a week later,” he said. “Five days a week.

“My speed was measured. I got up to 3 mph. At the start — oh my gosh! — it was maybe eight-tenths of a mile an hour.”

Released to return to his Fort Branch home, Beal began working out both at home and at Evansville’s Tri-State Athletic Club.

“In the house I did the treadmill. Outside I walked and rode a bike,” he said.

“At Tri-State I did light weightlifting workouts. Barbells weighing maybe seven or eight pounds.

“They also have what’s called a lap pool where I did swimming laps. Three or four times down and back. When I started I swam an hour or two, with breaks in there.

“I feel good, like I’ve made a complete 180-degree turn. I want to do stuff every day and try to stay active.

“I’m not yet where I want to be, but I’m far better than before the transplant. I want to keep building my endurance and live a normal life.”

Beal expects to work “regular eight-hour days, and overtime.,” though he still is required to return to St. Louis for monthly checkups.

Beal said he can’t say enough about “all the support I’ve received throughout all this. Not only mom, dad and Ali, but also from Ali’s husband Darrel.

“From my friend Kim Meeks. Her dad, Jeff Meeks, organized a pancake breakfast as one of my fundraisers.

“So many people have been involved in organizing golf scrambles and wiffleball tournaments to raise funds. Those wiffleball tournaments were so much fun, we may do another one.

“Some of the TISA employees have helped. And a lot of people everywhere have donated money.”

When Beal turned 29 on July 25, the family cookout celebrated not only that, but also July 21, the six-month anniversary of his lung transplant.

“That was cool,” he said.

“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 transplant.