Dr. Shaf Keshavjee presents EXVIVO Lung Perfusion system at TEDMED

TEDMED is one of the most prestigious annual events where leaders in the medical field discuss their ideas and I'm pleased to see that Dr. Shaf Keshavjee was an invited speaker. The first speaker of the event, he followed double-lung transplant recipient soprano Charity Tillemann-Dick's opening song “I Could Have Danced All Night” Dr. Keshavjee is my lung transplant surgeon and it's been my privilege to see the development of the Toronto EXVIVO Lung Perfusion System from it's early beginnings. Click here for a video of the system.

TEDMED celebrates conversations that demonstrate the intersection and connections between all things medical and healthcare related: from personal health to public health, devices to design and Hollywood to the hospital. TMED was held Oct 26-29 in San Diego.

By Katherine Hobson The Wall Street Journal Blogs

Last night at view video, Shaf Keshavjee, director of the Toronto Lung Transplant Program, asked for volunteers to come onstage and touch a breathing pig lung, which was hooked up to a machine that kept it essentially “alive.”

Martha Stewart, seated up front, raised her hand, so minutes later she — and a handful of other conference participants — had donned rubber gloves and were grasping the lung as the machine helped it “breathe.” (We halfway expected her to offer up a really good offal recipe to the crowd.)

The tool Keshavjee had brought with him was essentially a mini heart-lung machine but in reverse. It permits the lung to stay at room temperature and function as usual — removing carbon dioxide from blood (a cellular solution, in this demonstration) and adding oxygen. When a human lung retrieved from a deceased donor is hooked up to the machine, physicians get the luxury of time to assess its condition and then treat it using targeted methods, including gene and cellular therapy, before transplanting it into the recipient. At that point, it’s become a “super organ,” as Keshavjee says.

Using conventional methods, transplanted lungs are cooled to slow deterioration and then transplanted, with little time to assess their condition or repair damage. Keshavjee says this new method has allowed some 30 patients to receive donated and repaired lungs that wouldn’t have ordinarily been used.

He says the holy grail for the pre-op repair process would be to treat donated lungs while they’re outside the body to avoid rejection by the host, to “make it like self.”

More from TEDMED:
pagingdrgupta.blogs.cnn.com

Katherine Hobson on double-lung transplant recipient soprano Charity Tillemann-Dick's opening song “I Could Have Danced All Night”

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Register to be an organ and tissue donor & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario at 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 or enhance the lives of up to fifty people with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants (see allotransplantation). One tissue donor can help 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. Organs can save lives, corneas renew vision, and tissue may help to restore someone's ability to walk, run or move freely without pain. Life Begins with You

Hair Stylist Becomes Hero, Donates Kidney to Client

By Matt Pearl 11alive.com - Atlanta, Georgia

It's the story about an unlikely pair of women, their stories woven together by a beautiful surprise from one to the other.

For ten years, Donna Burchfield of Druid Hills suffered the effects of renal failure; for five years, she had been waiting on the kidney transplant list. This always-active woman, at the time in her late 50's, was suddenly sapped of her energy.

"Some mornings I would wake up and not be able to put on clothes," Burchfield said. "I was just crawling through concrete. I had calcium problems, I had potassium problems, so really the renal failure affected all parts of my body."

Family members offered their kidneys, but none were a match. With Donna's health and hope deteriorating, a match came from an unlikely source:

Donna's hair salon.

Brittany Reed is 25 years old and works as a color technician at the Carter-Barnes Hair Salon in Buckhead.

"[Donna] had talked about how she was looking for a donor, and how she hadn't had any luck yet," Reed recalled. "I just it upon myself to quietly be tested.

"I didn't even know what my blood type was!"

Not only was Brittany the right blood type, she was the right everything -- a perfect match.

And she did it all without Donna knowing.

She waited until the match was a sure thing. Then, a mutual friend brought Brittany over to Donna's house for dinner.

"It wasn't even ten minutes when [Brittany] had this big smile on her face," Burchfield said, "and she said she had big news."

"I said, 'I want to be your kidney donor,'" Reed said.

"I was crying," recalled Burchfield, "and she was crying, and I was saying to her there were just no words to express how to say, 'Thank you'."

Eight days later, Brittany and Donna were in surgery at Piedmont Hospital. Five months after that, both are physically feeling better than ever.

"You understand there's something so much bigger than yourself," said Burchfield regarding what the experience taught her. "You see what the gift of giving and receiving can do for yourself and other people."

For more on organ donation, check out UNOS.org and donatelife.net.

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Register to be an organ and tissue donor & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario at 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 or enhance the lives of up to fifty people with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants (see allotransplantation). One tissue donor can help 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. Organs can save lives, corneas renew vision, and tissue may help to restore someone's ability to walk, run or move freely without pain. Life Begins with You

10-year-old needs heart and double-lung transplant

Sarah Ettridge (10) suffers from a chronic lung disease and is on the waiting list for a double heart and lung transplant. Photo: Scott Fletcher

By Bridie Jabour goldcoast.com.au

SARAH Ettridge already has a huge heart but soon she will need a new one along with a set of lungs.

At only 10 years old, she visits hospital so often she knows 'almost all the names of the doctors and nurses'.

Sarah's lungs operate at a quarter of her friends' capacity meaning simple activities like walking out to the school oval to play leave her tired and out of breath.

''It affects me because I can't play with my friends. I have to play slow and not running games,'' said Sarah, a grade five student at Caningeraba Primary School at Burleigh Heads.

''I feel like a different person (to others) ... but a cool one.''

Sarah was born a healthy baby but in a stroke of terrible luck she came down with a virus at 10 months old that left her in intensive care for three and half months.

What saved her life has also left her with her current condition, bronchliotis obliterans.

The ventilator and oxygen she received scarred her lungs and while in hospital she caught another virus which meant mucus builds up on the scarring, a condition called ectasis.

Sarah is waiting for a heart and lung transplant but she has just a three per cent chance of finding a donor.

Once she turns 12 however, her chances increase dramatically to 30 per cent because she will be able to receive an adult's heart and lungs.

Sarah knows she needs the operation and says when the day comes she will be both scared and excited.

What she is looking forward to the most is running around with her friends.

''I'll be able to run around with my friends and catch up with my brother and sister.''

The family moved from Sydney to the Gold Coast 18 months ago to give Sarah a better quality of life.

Since arriving she has received tremendous community support, particularly from the Gold Coast Community Fund.

After hearing of her difficulties in moving around at school, the community fund bought Sarah a scooter so she could play with her friends in the playground.

They have also helped parents Troy and Gail out financially providing $5000 in grocery and fuel vouchers.

The Bulletin has joined forces with the Gold Coast Community Fund, Gold Coast Suns AFL Club and Movie World to raise much-needed funds to brighten the lives of needy Gold Coast families.

The White Christmas Stocking Fund starts today and will run for six weeks helping raise money to provide a brighter Christmas for struggling families.

Gold Coast Publications managing director Steve Howard said Gold Coasters had a reputation for generosity.

''Many families are doing it tough at the moment and are not looking forward to a very prosperous Christmas,'' said Mr Howard.

''The White Christmas Stocking Fund aims to brighten the lives of needy families, so we're asking the community and businesses to get behind this fantastic campaign.''

Gold Coast Community Fund chairman Simon Bennett said money raised would help people in emergency situations, including the disadvantaged and disabled.

''Our goal is to ensure we enable people who wouldn't have a very happy Christmas, to have a better one,'' he said.

Make your donation online or at any Commonwealth Bank branch on the Gold Coast in Australia.

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Register to be an organ and tissue donor & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario at 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 or enhance the lives of up to fifty people with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants (see allotransplantation). One tissue donor can help 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. Organs can save lives, corneas renew vision, and tissue may help to restore someone's ability to walk, run or move freely without pain. Life Begins with You

Vitamin D Deficiency Linked To Lung Transplant Rejection

I'm glad that I've been taking Vitamin D daily and this study is good news for lung transplant patients like myself.

Maywood, IL– eNews Park Forest (ENEWSPF)– Vitamin D deficiency is associated with a significant increase in lung transplant rejection, according to research conducted at Loyola University Health System (LUHS). These data were presented Monday at The American Society for Bone and Mineral Research 2010 annual meeting in Toronto, Ontario.

"Vitamin D deficiency is prevalent among lung transplant recipients," said Pauline Camacho, MD, study investigator and director of the Loyola University Osteoporosis and Metabolic Bone Disease Center. "This study shed greater light on the serious impact that this deficiency has on lung transplant patients."

Patients who undergo lung transplants are at risk for rejecting the organ, and 77 percent of these patients are vitamin D deficient. Researchers believe that vitamin D helps the immune system tolerate the organ. Thus optimal levels of this supplement are critical for positive outcomes.

This study evaluated 122 patients who underwent a lung transplant at Loyola between January 2005 and June 2008. Sixty-four patients were male and 58 were female with an average age of 49.2 years. Vitamin D levels were checked following the transplants. Of the 122 patients, 50 percent were vitamin D deficient, 18 percent were not deficient and 32 percent were unknown. Vitamin D deficiency was associated with a significant increase in rejection for 51.7 percent of patients during the first year following transplant. Vitamin D deficiency also showed a trend toward increased airway inflammation in 16.7 percent of patients.

The health benefits of vitamin D are widespread and range from warding off cancer, osteoporosis, heart disease, diabetes and depression. Researchers speculate that vitamin D also may improve the health of lung transplant patients. Further studies will evaluate the effect of vitamin D therapy on short- and long-term lung transplant rejection rates, lung function and long-term survival.

Thomas Cascino, third-year medical student at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine (Stritch); Charles Alex, MD, FCCP, program director for lung transplant at LUHS; and Ramon Durazo, PhD, assistant professor of preventive medicine and epidemiology at Stritch, also were study investigators.

For more information, visit http://www.loyolahealth.org

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Register to be an organ and tissue donor & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario at 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 or enhance the lives of up to fifty people with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants (see allotransplantation). One tissue donor can help 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. Organs can save lives, corneas renew vision, and tissue may help to restore someone's ability to walk, run or move freely without pain. Life Begins with You

Man To Run New York City Marathon After Double Lung Transplant

FAIRFIELD, Conn. (CBS 2) — A Connecticut man is running his first marathon next month. That might not sound unusual except for the fact that last fall he couldn’t walk across a room.

One year ago, Tim Sweeney could barely walk without wearing an oxygen mask. One year ago, both Tim and his wife, Beth, believed his days were numbered, reports CBS 2′s Dana Tyler.

“I always knew there was something different when I grew up. I always had a slight cough in the morning, but as the day went on, it became less and less,” Tim said.

For years, he had no idea that he’d been diagnosed with cystic fibrosis when he was 2 years old. Cystic fibrosis is a genetic disorder in which the body produces a thick mucous that clogs the lungs and hampers digestion.

Tim never missed a day of school, though. His mother gave him the proper medications; his father pushed him to be athletic. They didn’t label him.

“He was so young. We didn’t want to stop him from doing anything, to be as normal as possible, to play with his brothers and do what everybody else did, so we didn’t tell him when he was young,” Tim’s mother, Rose Sweeney, said.

Tim was always athletic. He finished college and worked as a fitness trainer. When he and Beth started dating, she heard something in his chest, and insisted he see a doctor.

“They asked, ‘how long have you known you had cystic fibrosis,’ and I was 26, 27, and I was like, ‘whoa,’” Tim said. “To me, it was a bombshell. Now, all of a sudden, it was real. I looked it up, life expectancy was 37 or something. It was a major shock.”

That was in 2004. Tim said he felt fine and always thought he could beat it, but in 2007 – soon after the couple married – his health began to decline.

They were able to have a baby through in vitro fertilization, but doctors told the new father he had 18 months to live if he didn’t undergo a lung transplant.

Tim recalled the agonizing wait for a donor.

“There’s someone out there leading a normal life. Typically it’s an accident victim, so it’s sudden,” Tim said. “It’s such a tragic and beautiful thing all at once. You know it’s going to happen.”

When his normal treatments failed last fall, Tim was unable to breathe on his own. With double pneumonia, Sweeney was quickly moved to the top of the list for a rare double lung transplant.

“I was 120 pounds, I was so weak, eyes sunken in, losing hair,” Tim said.

After three false alarms, Dr. Joshua Sonnett transplanted the lungs of a 25-year-old accident victim last Nov. 10, saving Tim Sweeney’s life.

“Medically, he was at a point, he was around 20 percent of where he should be. He lost 80 percent of his lung function,” Dr. Sonnett said. “Once you get in the 20 percent range, basically in a window, if he got an infection he could have died.”

Only 100 double lung transplants are performed in the United States each year. Tim woke up in intensive care wondering how the transplant went, when Dr. Sonnett shocked him with a question.

“He said, ‘I understand you’re a trainer. I just did the NYC marathon,’ and I thought that would have been great, especially with new lungs,” Tim said. “He said, ‘Why don’t we do that?’”

“He said, ‘I’ll run it with you next year.’ I didn’t expect him to do it,” Dr. Sonnett said. “[But] I knew he could, I knew he could.”

Dr. Sonnett said Tim’s lifelong commitment to a good diet and exercise – even walking the hospital corridors with weights – ensured his speedy recovery. He was released from the hospital in a week, and there’s still been no infection and no rejection.

“He woke up every night, for every night for two years, having coughing fits,” Beth said. “[Now] there was no coughing, no heavy breathing, no oxygen sound. I’m lying there, dead silent – we just started laughing.”

And now, there’s no stopping him. Beth designed T-shirts to raise money for medical costs and cystic fibrosis, and be his coach.

“I try to get him to lengthen his stride and lean forward a bit,” Beth said. “I run behind him on these things so he doesn’t get an injury that day.”

The little boy with the cough now has wings on his heels, and he doesn’t run alone. He’s grateful to his doctors, the donor and his family.

“It felt like something…I was doing something I was born to do,” Tim said. “This is what came natural to me, to go outside and go running.”

Tim Sweeney’s first marathon will be on Nov. 7, and even though it’s Dr. Sonnett’s fourth, he said it’ll be tough keeping up with Tim and his new lungs.

Tim and Beth hope his story inspires others waiting for organ transplants – that they know that yes, it’s a long and often dire road, but there are heroes all around us sharing the gift of life.

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Register to be an organ and tissue donor & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario at 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 or enhance the lives of up to fifty people with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants (see allotransplantation). One tissue donor can help 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. Organs can save lives, corneas renew vision, and tissue may help to restore someone's ability to walk, run or move freely without pain. Life Begins with You

Immune Modulating Treatments for Type 1 Diabetes

By Linda Fugate EmpowHER

If you need an organ transplant and you have an identical twin willing to donate, you have an excellent chance for success in most cases. Unfortunately, there are exceptions. Patients with type 1 diabetes are unable to produce insulin because of autoimmune damage to the pancreas. The medical literature reports that partial pancreas transplants have been performed between identical twins, with healthy donor and diabetic recipient. This should have cured the diabetes. But it did not cure the autoimmune process that destroyed the recipient twin's original pancreas. The transplanted partial pancreas was also destroyed in a short time.

Type 1 diabetes patients are at risk of damage to many organs and tissues from blood sugar levels outside the normal range. When kidney failure occurs, a treatment option is a combined kidney/pancreas transplantation. Immunosuppressive drugs are necessary for the kidney transplant in almost all cases (since most people don't have identical twins). When the donor kidney comes from a cadaver, it seems reasonable to give the recipient a new pancreas as well. A recent article in the Diabetes medical journal reports on three such patients. All received thymoglobulin and daclizumab as immunosuppressive drugs. Two also received rituximab. These drugs were sufficient to save the new kidneys from immune attack, but the new pancreases were also damaged, and type 1 diabetes returned.

Mycophenolate mofetil has been tried on patients newly diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in another attempt to stop the autoimmune process. Unfortunately, it was not effective, either alone or in combination with daclizumab.

These failed attempts to stop disease progression with standard immunosuppressive drugs are undoubtedly frustrating to researchers and patients alike. However, they do provide important data. The immune system is perhaps the most complicated system in our bodies, and knowing what does not work gives us clues about where to look next.

Research approaches using blood-derived stem cells have demonstrated promising results in animal models. Check with your doctor to see what the latest results mean to you.

See article for references

Linda Fugate is a scientist and writer in Austin, Texas. She has a Ph.D. in Physics and an M.S. in Macromolecular Science and Engineering. Her background includes academic and industrial research in materials science. She currently writes song lyrics and health articles.

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Register to be an organ and tissue donor & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario at 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 or enhance the lives of up to fifty people with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants (see allotransplantation). One tissue donor can help 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. Organs can save lives, corneas renew vision, and tissue may help to restore someone's ability to walk, run or move freely without pain. Life Begins with You

Natl group will help plan fund-raisers for transplants

by Bob McClay KTAR.com

PHOENIX -- A national organization says it will help Arizona transplant candidates, who have lost their health coverage because of cuts in the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, find ways to pay for their treatment.

Rebecca Carr of the National Transplant Assistance Fund says her group rarely deals with patients who have absolutely no insurance or Medicare.

"I'll be totally honest with you. An organ transplant when there is no insurance can frequently be half-a-million dollars. A bone marrow transplant can be a quarter of a million dollars. Some communities can raise that money, but that's a lot of bake sales and barbeques."

But, it can be done, Carr said.

"A community that can do a really successful dinner with auction or golf tournament day can raise $50,000 to $100,000 in a day if they've done their homework and done the prep work for an event like that."

Carr's group usually helps transplant patients find ways to pay for expenses outside the transplant itself.

"That can include the more obvious ones like hospital bills and medications, also travel expenses, caregiver expenses, food and relocation expenses and other things that you might not think of, right off the bat."

Carr welcomes questions from people who need help.

"I will get down to business and start talking to them about what fund-raising events might work in their community, about who they can send letters to asking for assistance -- anything to reach their network to ask for donations. That's what we're going to help them to do."

The fund will also help patients set up a Web site for donations.

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Register to be an organ and tissue donor & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario at 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 or enhance the lives of up to fifty people with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants (see allotransplantation). One tissue donor can help 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. Organs can save lives, corneas renew vision, and tissue may help to restore someone's ability to walk, run or move freely without pain. Life Begins with You

Child receives a new liver, pancreas, bowel and kidneys - twice. Cost: $4 million

Aria MacDonald
TVNZ - New Zealand

A young South Auckland girl has made medical history by having two multi-organ transplants.

More than $4 million has been spent giving Aria MacDonald a new liver, pancreas, bowel and kidneys - twice.

It is the first time the procedure has been attempted in the United States at the specialist transplant hospital in Nebraska where Aria is being treated.

But giving Aria the chance of a normal life has cost New Zealand taxpayers $4.3 million.

In her four years Aria has known constant pain and teetered between life and death after being born with a rare genetic condition.

Aria's bowel doesn't work, meaning she can't eat. Her parents were first told by doctors to let her starve to death but Anita and Hamish MacDonald could not accept that.

"What mother would let her child die of starvation," Anita said.

Under the care of Starship Hospital gastroenterologist Helen Evans, Aria was given nutrition directly into her heart through a tube - but that same nutrition caused vital organs to fail.

"We see her declining and you can see the whites of her eyes, she's yellow," Anita said.

Last year the government agreed to provide funding for a four organ transplant in the United States, but a small child would have to to die to save Aria's life.

And after surgery which proved more complex than surgeons had anticipated, Aria's body rejected the organs. But the doctors wanted to try again.

Another transplant was the only option if Aria was to live, surgeon Jean Botha said.

The failure of the first surgery meant the Macdonalds had to apply to the New Zealand government for funding again but the ministry said the expected long-term savings to the health care system outweigh the initial costs of the treatment.

And for Aria's parents there was no question about what they had to do.

"We felt strongly that it was our duty as parents to fight for Aria's life, as long as there was a decent chance of having a decent life, it was the right course for us to pursue," Hamish said.

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Register to be an organ and tissue donor & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario at 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 or enhance the lives of up to fifty people with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants (see allotransplantation). One tissue donor can help 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. Organs can save lives, corneas renew vision, and tissue may help to restore someone's ability to walk, run or move freely without pain. Life Begins with You

Springfield, Illinois man celebrates 25 years with transplanted heart

We are starting to see more and more stories about the improving long-term survival of organ transplant recipients and this is another inspiring and encouraging report for those of us who are waiting for a transplant or have already had one.

The prognosis for heart transplant patients following the transplant procedure has greatly increased over the past 20 years, and as of June 5, 2009, the survival rates were as follows.

• 1 year: 88% (males), 77,2% (females)
• 3 years: 79,3% (males), 77.2% (females)
• 5 years: 73,1% (males), 67.4% (females)

Childhood heart defect prompted state organ donation registry
By Patrick Yeagle IllinoisTimes

For most people, taking second in a foot race would only be cause to try harder. For Ryan Louis of Springfield, it was a warning sign that would change his life.

“My mom asked me what happened, and I just said that I had gotten tired,” says the 32-year-old Louis, recalling a race that he ran near the end of kindergarten. “She had never heard me say that before; I was pretty hyperactive. But in her mother’s intuition, she said, ‘I think there’s something wrong with you.’ ”

She took him to several hospitals, where doctors discovered he had a heart defect that was expected to be fatal. His family set up a type of hospice environment in their home while trying to figure out what to do, until a neighbor suggested they visit Loyola University Medical Center in Chicago, which was experimenting with organ transplants in children at the time. Louis received a new heart at that hospital in 1985 at the age of seven. On Oct. 5, Louis celebrated his 25th year with a transplanted heart.

“I was the fifth-youngest in the world,” he says. “I can’t tell you how many of those survived, but it worked out pretty well for me.”

Louis says the knowledge gained by doctors from his transplant is used in organ transplants still today, but his influence reaches even further than that.

The neighbor who told Louis’s family about Loyola was none other than U.S. Rep. Tim Johnson of Champaign, who was a state representative at the time. Ryan Louis and his siblings were friends with Johnson’s own children, and Louis’s story prompted Johnson to push for changes in the state laws regarding organ donation.

“I saw Ryan as an example of why we needed to modernize and streamline our systems,” Johnson says. “His story individualized for me just how outdated our systems were.”

Because of that personal connection, Johnson helped pass bills to clarify eligibility for organ donation and outlaw the sale of body parts other than for research purposes. He also worked with then-Secretary of State George Ryan to create Illinois’ organ donor registry – the first state-run registry in the nation.

Louis remembers the disorganization and misunderstandings that existed before the registry.

“When I was in the hospital, there were kids dying left and right because there was nobody donating anything,” he says. “Nobody knew much about it or how to do it. People had the misconception that ‘If I’m on the table and they can use my organs, they’ll just let me die.’ It’s not like that at all, but back then there were a lot of horror stories about it.”

Johnson calls Louis’s story “heartwarming” because a family got to see their son “almost brought back to life.”

“Ryan’s family was and still is very dear to me,” he says. “His father (now deceased) was my best friend, and we (the families) still hang out whenever we can. My hope is that, through legislation and medical advances, we will allow heart transplants and other organ donations to continue to increase.”

Henry Haupt, spokesman for Secretary of State Jesse White’s office, which oversees the organ donor registry, says 5.4 million people have signed up as organ donors since Jan. 1, 2006, when regulations changed to allow Illinoisans to donate their tissues and organs without witnesses or their families’ consent, simply by indicating their wish to the Secretary of State’s office.

“I think it’s a wonderful testament to the generosity of Illinoisans,” Haupt says.

Ryan Louis says he lives life to the fullest because his late father inspired him to be strong and forego excuses. Louis does jujitsu, sings in two bands and is part-owner and manager of Hickory River Smokehouse in Springfield.

“One of the things that bugs me is people saying I’ve had a second chance,” he says. “Who hasn’t had two, three, even four chances at life? …Everybody has been given a second chance at some point. I’ve got a scar down my chest and medicine I take to remind me, but it happens to everybody, so when do you choose to live life?”

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Register to be an organ and tissue donor & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario at 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 or enhance the lives of up to fifty people with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants (see allotransplantation). One tissue donor can help 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. Organs can save lives, corneas renew vision, and tissue may help to restore someone's ability to walk, run or move freely without pain. Life Begins with You

Lung transplant recipient receives lungs of 30-year smoker, then quickly dies

NaturalNews

Family members of a woman who died after receiving the lungs of a 30-year smoker have filed a complaint with the British transplant office.

Twenty-eight-year-old Lyndsey Scott received the transplant to replace her own failing lungs in January 2009. In July 2009, she died of pneumonia. Upon applying for medical notes on the transplant operation, her family was shocked to learn that the lungs used had previously belonged to a person who had smoked for 30 years.

"I can honestly say [Lyndsey] would have been horrified to have known those lungs were from a smoker and quite definitely she would have refused that operation," her father Allan Scott said.

Chris Rudge, national clinical director of transplantation in the United Kingdom, said he was not familiar with the specific details of the case, but noted that lungs from a smoker may still be appropriate for transplant.

"It is nothing to do with the history of the donor, it is whether the organ is working or not, whether it is going to produce a successful transplant or not, and, in this particular case, smoking isn't the issue," he said.

"Lungs from a smoker can be working perfectly normally and be perfectly suitable for transplantation; lungs from a non-smoker can not be working and not be suitable for transplantation," Rudge said. "Surgeons have to make decisions -- about four out of every five lungs that become available for transplantation are not used because they are not working well enough."

It is important for people receiving transplants to understand that the organs they are receiving will not be "brand new," he said. At the same time, he said surgeons and patients should discuss the risks associated with any particular organ.

Joyce Robbins of Patient Concern said that Scott should have been told the history of the lungs.

"Most patients would say that they should be informed of any pertinent fact," she said. "If the family are saying that she would have refused a transplant had she known, then that is an important issue."

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Register to be an organ and tissue donor & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario at 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 or enhance the lives of up to fifty people with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants (see allotransplantation). One tissue donor can help 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. Organs can save lives, corneas renew vision, and tissue may help to restore someone's ability to walk, run or move freely without pain. Life Begins with You

Early double-lung transplant patient celebrates 20 years of breathing free

This news is inspiring and encouraging for lung transplant recipients. The average survival of a lung transplant patient is 50 percent at 5 years so to make it to 20 years, especially for a cystic fibrosis patient, is remarkable. Howell Graham has a lot going for him being that he received a double-lung transplant. According to a study by a team of Johns Hopkins surgeons having both lungs replaced instead of just one is the single most important feature determining who lives longest after having a lung transplant, more than doubling an organ recipient's chances of extending their life by over a decade. Read more in this ScienceDaily Report

By Vicky Eckenrode StarNewsOnline.com

Howell Graham didn’t intend to be a landmark medical case. He just wanted to walk five feet without having to take a break.

On Friday, it will be 20 years since Graham became the first cystic fibrosis patient to undergo a double-lung transplant at UNC Hospitals when the procedure was just starting to be attempted around the country.

Now 48, he is thought to be the longest-surviving patient of the procedure.

“It’s a big day, Friday,” Graham said earlier this week from the living room of his home in Wilmington. “I’m glad to be here.”

Twenty years ago, doctors couldn’t give him that guarantee when he was a 28 year old facing an operation in its risky early days.

Graham adjusted early on to having cystic fibrosis, a chronic disease that causes the body to produce extra mucus that causes problems with the lungs and pancreas. Mucus build-up in the lungs creates issues not only with lung function but also lung infections.

The disease affects about 30,000 people in the United States, according to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

For Graham, who was diagnosed at 2, it meant medicine and breathing treatments for years.

“Growing up, I guess I didn’t notice much. I really didn’t know there was much difference,” he said. “With cystic fibrosis, the lungs end up eventually destroying themselves. The sickness frequency became more and more the older I got.”

Through college at University of North Carolina Wilmington where Graham went to business school, his parents encouraged him to remain positive. His dad would tell him that one day doctors would figure out how to get him a new set of lungs, which in the early 1980s was unheard of, and Graham brushed it off as his parents trying to keep his spirits up.

He knew the reality that he had a progressive disease with no long-term solution available at the time. But he was still fairly active, riding his bike and water skiing, and for the most part life was normal.

So when doctors at UNC Hospitals told him in the spring of 1990 about a transplant operation that would allow him to finally have a set of healthy lungs, Graham passed.

The procedure was new and not enough operations had been done for his doctors to say how successful it would be. They warned him there would be a 50-50 chance of surviving.

The risk seemed too high for Graham.

But as the year went by, things quickly got worse.

“It was hard to just go up four or five stairs. They put me on full-time oxygen. I was getting short of breath brushing my teeth,” he said. “At that point, I had no life whatsoever.”

Graham was ready to accept the risk of the surgery.

On Oct. 8, 1990, surgeons spent 13 hours on the transplant operation, and soon after Graham began his recovery.

“It felt like taking a normal breath,” he said. “I don’t think I’d ever taken a normal breath until my transplant.”

About 1,600 people with cystic fibrosis in the country have received lung transplants since 1991, according to the Cystic Fibrosis Patient Registry.

In the 20 years since Graham’s surgery, a lot has changed, said Benjamin Haithcock, surgical director of UNC’s lung transplant program.

“The mortality associated with it was pretty high,” he said about the early days of the procedure. “It used to take a good half a day to full day to do this operation. Now, it’s down to five or six hours.”

He said developments in immunosuppressive drugs have decreased chances of transplant patients’ bodies rejecting the lungs.

Howell’s wife, Debbie, said doctors told him at the time he would be trading one set of problems – his breathing difficulties – for another set of issues – being on anti-rejection medicine.

His more vulnerable immune system made it particular dangerous when years after the transplant he overcame a ruptured appendix and then colon cancer.

“Howell has this drive in him that makes him unstoppable,” said Debbie, who met Howell the year after his transplant. “From my perspective, he seemed to take the news of complications from his ruptured appendix and diagnosis of colon cancer as if he had a cold. I guess this comes from his living with a chronic disease and pushing onward day to day.”

Early next year, the Grahams plan to hold a “birthday party” to mark the 20 years that have passed since his surgery.

They want it to raise awareness of the importance of organ donation as well as a new method UNC surgeon Thomas Egan – who did Graham’s surgery in 1990 – is pursuing to increase the number of lungs available for transplants by restoring the organs’ viability even if it’s been hours after a donor’s death.

“I want people to know that organ donation, it works,” Graham said.

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Register to be an organ and tissue donor & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario at 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 or enhance the lives of up to fifty people with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants (see allotransplantation). One tissue donor can help 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. Organs can save lives, corneas renew vision, and tissue may help to restore someone's ability to walk, run or move freely without pain. Life Begins with You

Kidney disease under diagnosed & unrecognized in Nigeria

Following my lung transplant almost 9 years ago I've been diagnosed with chronic kidney disease (CKD) secondary to calcineurin inhibitor (cyclosporine) toxicity. Now I'm paying more attention to it's prevalence and the role kidneys play in our lives. This article from Nigeria gives an excellent overview of how our kidneys work and highlights the enormous problem that CKD is for millions of people worldwide. In the U.S. alone most of the people registered for an organ transplant are kidney patients. Here are the latest statistics as of Sept 24, 2010.

1. Kidney 91,867
2. Liver 16,696
3. Pancreas 1,449
4. Kidney-Pancreas 2,278
5. Heart 3,159
6. Lung 1,821
7. Heart/Lung 78
8. Intestine 255
9. Total Registrations: 117,603

For renal failure patients, hope beckons
From BusinessDay, Nigeria
Statistics from medical experts have revealed that more people die every day from kidney-related diseases than malaria and HIV/AIDS in the country. The main function of the kidney is to remove waste products and excess water from the blood. It allows consumption of a variety of foods, drugs, vitamins, supplements, additives, and excess fluids without worry that toxic by-products will build up to harmful levels.

The kidney also plays a major role in regulating levels of various minerals such as calcium, sodium, and potassium in the blood. However, in Nigeria, it is well known that Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) is under-recognised and diagnosed. It is of note that healthy kidneys clean the blood by filtering out extra water and wastes, make hormones that keep the bones strong and blood healthy. When both kidneys fail, the body holds fluid and blood pressure rises. Harmful wastes build up in the body, not enough red blood cells are produced leading to fatigue, nausea, and loss of appetite.

In fact, chronic kidney disease is a problem of enormous magnitude, and its prevalence is on the increase. Currently, CKD is a worldwide public health problem. The World Health Report 2002 and Global Burden of Disease project reports show that diseases of the kidney and urinary tract are responsible for approximately 850,000 deaths every year and 15 million disability-adjusted lives. Globally, they represent the 12th cause of death and 17th cause of disability.

Ebun Bamgboye of St. Nicholas Hospital Lagos, stated in his speech at an international symposium on chronic kidney disease and renal transplantation, organised by the hospital recently, that more than 5 percent of the adult population have some form of kidney damage, and that every year, millions of people die prematurely of cardiovascular diseases linked to CKD.

Therefore, the burden of CKD on the society needs proper attention to enable government and non-governmental organisations nip it in the bud. The availability of dialysis and kidney transplant facilities in the country is minimal, as access to it and transplant programmes in Africa is dependent on the availability of funding and donors with majority of those with CKD dying because of lack of fund as very few can afford regular dialysis or transplant.

To this effect, MTN Foundation (MTNF) has decided to do something about this ailment that is claiming the lives of many, especially the less-privileged in society. MTN Nigeria through its Foundation established in 2004, has set out to support the health system by providing haemodialysis medical equipment to, at least, 11 hospitals across the six geo-political zones of the country.

This initiative has received applause from the public because it has created avenues through which citizens of the country can access therapeutic dialysis against the scourge of renal failure. Sufferers within and around General Hospital, Alimosho, Lagos State; Federal Medical Centre, Owerri, Imo State; Benue State University Teaching Hospital, Benue State; Federal Medical Centre, Yola, Adamawa State; Braithwaite Memorial Specialist Hospital, Port Harcourt, Rivers State; General Hospital, Calabar, Cross River State; General Hospital, Yauri, Kebbi State; Specialist Hospital, Sokoto, will easily receive treatment.

Also recently, University Teaching Hospital Ekiti, Ado-Ekiti got its haemodialysis centre commissioned. The facility, which consists of two Fresenius haemodialysis machines, two electronically-powered dialysis chairs, water treatment unit and pre-treatment unit, borehole water facility, two back-up power (3KVA UPS), 2.2 KVA UPS for water treatment unit, 1.5KVA UPS for water pre-treatment unit, 27KVA power generator and four air conditioners was inaugurated so that sufferers within the state and its surroundings can get cheaper treatment than that offered in private hospitals.

Experts are of the view that early detection can help in the management of these afflictions and reduce mortality. When a person is diagnosed with CKD, the treatment can be through transplant of a healthy kidney from a compatible donor through surgery or use of drugs called ‘immunosuppressant’s’ to subdue the recipients’ immunity from fighting the ‘foreign body.’ This is not done in Nigeria at present and it is very expensive, costing about N2 million apart from travel expenses. The other alternative is to undergo dialysis through the haemodialysis equipment, at least, three times a week. Here, the person’s blood is drawn into a machine, filtered and returned back. It takes time, as the person has to sit for three to four hours.

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Register to be an organ and tissue donor & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario at 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 or enhance the lives of up to fifty people with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants (see allotransplantation). One tissue donor can help 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. Organs can save lives, corneas renew vision, and tissue may help to restore someone's ability to walk, run or move freely without pain. Life Begins with You

Side effects of immunosuppressive drugs - my recent challenge

My posts have been a little intermittent recently because of a combination of chronic fatigue and clinic visits for erythropoietin (EPO) injections. After almost 9 years post lung transplant and being on cyclosporine daily ever since I've been diagnosed as anemic due to chronic kidney disease stage lll. The kidney disease is secondary to calcineurin inhibitor (cyclosporine) toxicity.

Many organ transplant recipients on cyclosporine or tacrolimus (Prograf) eventually suffer from kidney disease and require dialysis and go on the waiting list for a kidney transplant. I've had 2 injections of EPO so far and it takes from 4 to 6 weeks for energy levels to improve. I had never given myself a needle before and the clinic staff have been great in training me to do so.

Erythropoietin (EPO) is a hormone produced by the kidney that promotes the formation of red blood cells in the bone marrow. Kidney cells that make EPO detect low oxygen levels in the blood and EPO then stimulates the bone marrow to produce more red cells which increases the oxygen carrying capacity of the blood, thus helping to reduce fatigue and increase energy.

You may have read about the blood doping scandals involving EPO in professional athletics, especially cycling and there's been more news on that front today involving Spanish Rider Garcia.

It goes without saying EPO is banned in professional sports because blood doping boosts the number of red blood cells (RBCs) in the bloodstream in order to enhance athletic performance. Because they carry oxygen from the lungs to the muscles, more RBCs in the blood can improve an athlete’s aerobic capacity (VO2 max) and endurance.

EPO is used for the medical treatment of anemia resulting from chronic kidney disease and myelodysplasia, from the treatment of cancer (chemotherapy and radiation), and from other critical illnesses (heart failure).

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Register to be an organ and tissue donor & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario at 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 or enhance the lives of up to fifty people with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants (see allotransplantation). One tissue donor can help 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. Organs can save lives, corneas renew vision, and tissue may help to restore someone's ability to walk, run or move freely without pain. Life Begins with You

Organ Donation and Transplantation

I am pleased to post this guest article by Alex Johnson. Guest posts on subjects dealing with organ and tissue donation and transplantation are always welcome.

By Alex Johnson

Every sixteen minutes, a United States resident is added to the organ transplant waiting list. There are thousands of people waiting to receive organs, but only about 2,000 people each year receive the precious, life-saving organs they need.

Who Needs an Organ Transplant

When organs are failing, a transplant can be considered for an extreme method of treatment. A transplant is usually only used as a last resort and is only considered after all other treatment options have been exhausted. Patients waiting to receive an organ should also be willing to receive a transplant and the procedure must be deemed a necessary and viable option.

Conditions such as heart disease, kidney failure, cirrhosis of the liver, and some lung disorders can possibly be treated through organ transplantation. Some lung issues, such as mesothelioma, a cancer of the lungs caused by asbestos exposure, cannot be treated by organ transplantation.

Generally, donated organs come from a deceased donor who has experienced brain death and is being kept alive by artificial life support systems. When someone experiences a brain death, they have no brain activity; however, their body is still functioning and organs are still healthy. Once a person is deceased, with no blood flowing through the body, the organs are no longer viable and cannot be used for a transplant. The organs of deceased donors are usually used for heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants. Tissues that can be donated include skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves.

Living donors can also be used, but only for certain types of transplants, such as a kidney or liver transplants. This is because people are born with an extra kidney and livers are regenerative. Living donors are typically close friends or family of the organ recipient who are willing to donate and are considered to be a donor match.

The Nationwide Organ Distribution Process

People who need to receive an organ transplant from a deceased donor must be registered by their physician to the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN). The OPTN is operated by the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS). UNOS maintains a database of people who are waiting for an organ transplant. The organization establishes and maintains the procedures for deciding the criteria people must meet in order to receive a transplant. The board, comprised of transplant physicians, transplant patients, and organ donors, decides who will receive an organ.

Unfortunately, the demand for organs is much greater than the actual supply. Many people are registered with OPTN and UNOS for months, even years, before a suitable transplant becomes available. For many, this will never take place.

How to Become an Organ Donor

If people would like to donate their organs when they die, they should inform their families of their wishes. The family of the donor makes the final decision as to whether organs should be donated, so it is important to make your wishes known, before it is too late. In most states, you can choose the Organ Donor designation for placement on your Driver’s License. Check with your state for the rules.

Organ donation organizations are widely available and can be contacted if there are any questions or concerns about becoming an organ donor.

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Register to be an organ and tissue donor & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario at 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 or enhance the lives of up to fifty people with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants (see allotransplantation). One tissue donor can help 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. Organs can save lives, corneas renew vision, and tissue may help to restore someone's ability to walk, run or move freely without pain. Life Begins with You