Are You A Signed Up Register Organ Donor

I used to be an organ donor. After watching a full organ procurement i went the very next morning and had myself removed.
I had never questioned the fact of organ transplants,until this time. It had a very deep personal impact on me. So i am no longer a donor ,nor do I wish to recieve an organ should any of mine fail.

I'm not an organ donor either and as far as I'm concerned if I ever have to make that choice for any of mine, neither are they.

Until I can pick who gets my guts, I'll keep them. I decided that when a neighbor I've known for 36 years and who was the biggest sot and wife abuser/w hore hopper on earth was told his liver was killing him. He went to big UAB, stayed sober for a year, and is now on the donor list. Uh-uh. If I can't give my liver to a loving father/mother/teenager who has been an asset to this world, forget it. And up till now I can't figure out how to rise up from the dead and point to the person/people I want my insides to go to. So no.

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I used to be an organ donor. After watching a full organ procurement i went the very next morning and had myself removed.

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I'm not an organ donor either and as far as I'm concerned if I ever have to make that choice for any of mine, neither are they.

Until I can pick who gets my guts, I'll keep them. I decided that when a neighbor I've known for 36 years and who was the biggest sot and wife abuser/w hore hopper on earth was told his liver was killing him. He went to big UAB, stayed sober for a year, and is now on the donor list. Uh-uh. If I can't give my liver to a loving father/mother/teenager who has been an asset to this world, forget it. And up till now I can't figure out how to rise up from the dead and point to the person/people I want my insides to go to. So no.

How would that reasoning strike you if you had a child or a spouse dying on a waiting list?

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I used to be an organ donor. After watching a full organ procurement i went the very next morning and had myself removed.

What are you concerned about you'll be dead. Lets hear some more irrational excuses. No wonder tens of thousands die waiting for organs.

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How would that reasoning strike you if you had a child or a spouse dying on a waiting list?

I'd be thinking, hmmmm, maybe the organ donor people should make a point of screening their receivers better. Then maybe more people would be willing to sign up. Remember Mickey Mantle? Somebody wasted organs on that old drunk, that could've been used for a child or spouse. Twice.
Don't get huffy with me, worry about how to make sure the people who get the organs are somebody that will actually not kill the new one.

It's my liver. If I knew you or my family knew you, or if my family knew the circumstances surrounding your need for the organ, they have my permission to make the decision to donate. But random throwing my organs out there for the organ people to distribute. Nope. Nada. Never.

vick13, you are probably the most selfish person on here. im an organ donor, and you know why? mainly because i do have a chance to save a "good" persons life if i die..sure i take the chance of some alcoholic redneck taking my liver, so what, thats a chance im willing to take as long as it gives someone who actually deserves it a chance at a new life. and also, everyone makes mistakes in their life, thats why theres this little thing good people like to call "forgiveness". my dad used to be somewhat of a drinker, but not anymore, he is a good person now, so your saying that if by chance he needed a new liver you wouldnt give it to him even if you were dead and gone? you would rather have your organs rot underground instead of save a good mans life? thats just wrong if you ask me

I also got upset with the program when a woman in my cousin's hometown died, and they harvested her heart, lungs, kidneys, liver and eyes for transplant.

THEN they turned her over to the State for burial. The millions they made off her organs, the lives that were saved or altered and this poor woman got a paupers funeral.

Now THAT is a horrible glitch in the system, isn't it?

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Originally posted by thomaswayne0907:
vick13, you are probably the most selfish person on here.

And thus-far, you are the tackiest with that comment.

You think you can convince ANYONE of ANYTHING using insults as your ammo???

Yes, I'm a donor.

As am I and it makes me sad to see all these illogical excuses for not doing the right thing.

I trust that a good person will get my organs but frankly I'm dead anyway.

Your excuses sound like the guy who won't wear his seatbelt because he doesn't want to drown in the event his car runs into the lake. Whatever it takes to justify your cowardice and selfishness.

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Originally posted by vick13:

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How would that reasoning strike you if you had a child or a spouse dying on a waiting list?

I'd be thinking, hmmmm, maybe the organ donor people should make a point of screening their receivers better. Then maybe more people would be willing to sign up. Remember Mickey Mantle? Somebody wasted organs on that old drunk, that could've been used for a child or spouse. Twice.
Don't get huffy with me, worry about how to make sure the people who get the organs are somebody that will actually not kill the new one.

So since one percent of recipients shouldn't have received a organ everyone on the waiting list should die. Is that is honestly what you would be thinking if your child's was dying?

Chill, PR. Organ donation is a personal thing as it involves that person's organs, not your's. There are plenty of reasons to donate and there are plenty of reasons to not donate. There is no need to make excuses about a body you no longer need; so these are reasons, not excuses.

One I hear sometimes is the fear that if someone related to a medical professional needs one of my organs, will they let me die to get it? That's probably one too many Law & Order episodes talking, but there you go.

I looked on my driver's license and it doesn't say organ donor, but I thought that I had agreed to do that a long time ago.

I'm an organ donor. I figure that when I go, I'll be gone. If there is anything left of mine on this earth that anyone wants or needs, they are welcome to it.

That includes my eyes (I reckon you can have my contacts and glasses, too)...
my heart (it murmers and has a leak)...
my kidneys, liver, whatever else.

Yeah, there is a chance that my organs will go to a drunk or a wife beater. There is a chance that they'll go to a kid who just wants to go to prom, or a mom who just wants to see her baby go to prom one day. There is also a chance that Old Bubba the wife beater will get some extra time here on earth to find Jesus because someone donated the old sot a new liver. So, as long as they wait til I'm good and dead - and not a minute before!! - they can have my body. I'll be with Jesus, so I won't need it anymore.

And, if you are wondering, I plan on being cremated so my appearance in a casket is of no consequence. Just put whatever's left in the oven and then pop me in a nice vase on the mantle.

Amen to that TSC!

I agree with both sides of the story here. I was faced with this very decision just over 2 months ago. When my dad died we as a family were asked did we want his organs donated. Now in his case it was a very bad motorcycle accident and not many organs could be used but things like eyes and such could have been. My opinion was if there is somebody out therer that needs them then they can have them.

Now it is true that some wife beating murderer could be the reciepient but so could a small child who has never seen his new puppy! I tried to ask myself "What would daddy want?" Well daddy was a giver and would help anybody out in any way he could so I know he would have said "take them".

I don't see anyway that could be devised to screen organ reciepients based on their criminal history or status. That would be like saying, "Well Mr.?????, we can give you a heart transplant becasus you have a history or domestic violence and a DUI so we are sorry but your going to die in the next few days when your heart quits" I know that is a very harsh and extreme case but that would be the logic behind all decisions.

I say if I have something left that is still good and somebody else can use it then let them have it. If my organs end up in the body of a wife beater then when he meets his judgement it will be his to answer for.

Thats just another reason why you rock TSC

I was a donor and will be again in 4 more years.

I agree 100% with TSC. I'm an organ donor and I'm not concered with who recieves the donation. I figure that if God wants someone to have a second chance at life, they must be worth it in some way or another. Besides, what do I care, I'm dead.

I don't think there's any good reason to not be an organ donor.

An important thing to note is that the notation on your driver's license isn't legally binding; your family is the one who makes the decision, so you have to make sure that your wishes are known to them.

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What are you concerned about you'll be dead. Lets hear some more irrational excuses. No wonder tens of thousands die waiting for organs.

well that decision is MY business now isn't it?

But dead is when ALL life has left the body.That is to include the heart stop beating.
So I guess you do not know as much about the subject of organ procurement as you are trying to present yourself as knowing.

But, at the age I'm planning to go at, only the corneas will probably be worth harvesting.

Smurph no one said it wasn't your decision to make. You chose to share your decision and publicly explain your reasoning at which point your statements are up for criticism.

If you are concerned about "your business" perhaps you should keep it to yourself.

You are free to go into the ground with all organs intact and I'm free state my opinion that your decision is wasteful and socially irresponsible.

I'm an organ donor. I just don't want them to come for my liver while I'm still using it (thanx to Monty Python for that image)...

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Posted 03 October 2007 11:20 AM Hide Post
Smurph no one said it wasn't your decision to make. You chose to share your decision and publicly explain your reasoning at which point your statements are up for criticism.

If you are concerned about "your business" perhaps you should keep it to yourself.

You are free to go into the ground with all organs intact and I'm free state my opinion that your decision is wasteful and socially irresponsible.

Phoneix Rising you are intentionally picking.WHich is my OPNION of your responses, to which I have the right to speak as well. I was not the only one that is NOT an organ donor,,yet mine was the response you CHOSE to pick apart. Your BS stopped cutting it with me along time ago on these forums .

Question here,how many of you personally know someone living with a donated organ? How long have they had such?

I work with a woman who has a donated kidney. I know she got it from an anonymous person who died in a car accident, but not how long ago. I'm about to go heat up my lasagna, shall I ask her how long she's had that foreign kidney inside of her?

heck yea ask her, i am just curious how many we might have right here in our very area.

Well, I'm in Huntsville. She lives in Meridianville. She's had her kidney for 3 years. She said she may need another one in a few years and asked if I knew anyone willing to donate. AWKWARD conversation over the microwave lunches!!!

Anyway, Smurph, I totally respect your decision not to donate your innards. Yes, they do 'harvest' organs from folks who are brain dead and therefore still alive by machines. It freaks my mama out, too. She is afraid if she is a donor than the docs may not do all they can to save her in order to take her parts. I smoked for 15+ years and drank like a fish when I was in college, I'm blind, and my ticker aint' that hot... so I'm not really worried about my stuff being in huge demand! Also, I guess I'm just not that attached to this world. I'm not suicidal or anything - but I am not too stressed out over going to meet my Maker. To each their own though. I understand both sides of this issue.

I can't think of anyone I know who's received an organ transplant. I do know someone who died waiting for one. He was a young man in his mid-20s with a congenital liver disease.

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Originally posted by T S C:
Well, I'm in Huntsville. She lives in Meridianville. She's had her kidney for 3 years. She said she may need another one in a few years and asked if I knew anyone willing to donate. AWKWARD conversation over the microwave lunches!!!

Anyway, Smurph, I totally respect your decision not to donate your innards. Yes, they do 'harvest' organs from folks who are brain dead and therefore still alive by machines. It freaks my mama out, too. She is afraid if she is a donor than the docs may not do all they can to save her in order to take her parts. I smoked for 15+ years and drank like a fish when I was in college, I'm blind, and my ticker aint' that hot... so I'm not really worried about my stuff being in huge demand! Also, I guess I'm just not that attached to this world. I'm not suicidal or anything - but I am not too stressed out over going to meet my Maker. To each their own though. I understand both sides of this issue.

Come on now, TSC. You make it sound like you're falling apart. Can't be that bad. Ease up on yourself a little...lol.

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Originally posted by NashBama:
I'm an organ donor [...]. I figure that if God wants someone to have a second chance at life, they must be worth it in some way or another.

Yep. I second your comments, I agree whole-heartedly, and that's why I checked the box on my DL and also included it in my Will.

All of my brother-in-law's usable organs were donated. They sent my sister letters each time they were used stating who got them. She kept the letters for the kids, but just couldn't keep reading them. She said people of all ages got them. He had beautiful blue eyes and I am so glad someone could use them. It's bitter sweet, but I know it would make him happy to know he contributed to the happiness of others.

MarianLibrarian, my family knows I want to donate my organs. So, I guess I'm good.

Well our son ,when we lost him that morning , I am sure we was in shock when the lady ask about both donor cards, without giveing much though, other than we knew how much our son loved life & he was very caring & luving young man, So yes we signed both, We find out two men my age at the time , one in Hershey Pa & one in Dayton Ohio can see today . I understand what they have to do, when one is a donor , but I try to never let that though over ride the good that comes from it. not judgeing ones who don't sign the donor cards as wrong or bad, but thankfull for ones who do . to be honest we both have not signed one, just another thing we keep putting off. a good Post is when people have to think ! from " Bama "

For those who wish to serve others, one can be a living donor of bone marrow. There are restrictions--I could not join the registry because I have mitral valve prolapse. Most individuals are no so restricted.

It's easy to be added to the list--all they initially need is a sm. sample of your blood in order to test for certain qualities to be matched. If you should be a match in these areas, you will be called back in for more sophisticated testing.

One word of warning: the removal of healthy marrow is painful, but not excruciatingly so. I would urge everyone on this forum to consider this.

Oh, FV, I have this ridiculous fear of needles. It makes no logical sense. I don't give blood and I feel so guilty about that. Maybe if I just bite the bullet, at least for the blood donation, I'd get past it for other things.

very good idea Firenze. Also, please please everyone who can donate blood any chance you get!!

It's actually anytime the skin is pierced in any way...makes me weak-kneed. So silly. I love CSI but have to look away when they go all gross on me.

joy, i was that way too. Then in 01 my husband was in a terrible accident @ work and we were told that he may need blood. My fear of needles went out the window & I immediately went to see if my blood would match, only to find out that my blood would not be immediately available. but I gave blood anyway knowing that someones spouse or possibly even kid could be saved with my blood.

They also have plasma donating at Huntsville Hospital, it takes a little longer but the way I understand it, the needle & everything is the same as giving blood. & some places like Huntsville Hospital give $20 gift cards to nice restaurants or to walmart & free pizza cards to everyone who gives.

I don't think I'd feel comfortable accepting a gift card, but it sounds like a good idea to encourage people to give.

Okay, I'll ask my nurse friend at church tonight where to go to give blood. She works at ECM. Yikes!

As far as organ donation, My sister is a nurse & they had to go to this conference some where & they were telling them about medical professionals letting people die just to get their organs. & yes, this may have been just a "urban legend" but that is in the back of my mind. However, the way I understand it right as you die the medical folks immediately ask your family. I have made sure that my family knows that it is okay to give my stuff away, as long as they make sure that i dont need it!!!

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Posted 03 October 2007 06:45 AM Hide Post
vick13, you are probably the most selfish person on here. im an organ donor, and you know why? mainly because i do have a chance to save a "good" persons life if i die..sure i take the chance of some alcoholic redneck taking my liver, so what, thats a chance im willing to take as long as it gives someone who actually deserves it a chance at a new life. and also, everyone makes mistakes in their life, thats why theres this little thing good people like to call "forgiveness". my dad used to be somewhat of a drinker, but not anymore, he is a good person now, so your saying that if by chance he needed a new liver you wouldnt give it to him even if you were dead and gone? you would rather have your organs rot underground instead of save a good mans life? thats just wrong if you ask me

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So since one percent of recipients shouldn't have received a organ everyone on the waiting list should die. Is that is honestly what you would be thinking if your child's was dying?

So since one percent of recipients shouldn't have received a organ everyone on the waiting list should die. Is that is honestly what you would be thinking if your child's was dying?

Who knows? Again, if I could choose or my family could choose, sure. But not random stuff.

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Posted 03 October 2007 08:07 AM Hide Post
As am I and it makes me sad to see all these illogical excuses for not doing the right thing.

I trust that a good person will get my organs but frankly I'm dead anyway.

Your excuses sound like the guy who won't wear his seatbelt because he doesn't want to drown in the event his car runs into the lake. Whatever it takes to justify your cowardice and selfishness.

Ok. You're off my list of who to give my organs to!

Joy can have 'em. So can Kindred.

I gave just short of 10 gallons, before the Red Cross made the decision that persons living in Europe in 1980 and eating beef from US commissaries could no longer give blood, because of mad cow disease. Wish I could still give.

I am an organ donor, and my immediate family and all of my close friends know it. I am not concerned about a doctor letting me die to take my organs because I also have an advanced directive that is extremely detailed regarding the circumstances under which I would want to be on life support and/or have feeding tubes. I don't want my family to be faced with making those choices.

My family and close friends also know that I want my casket CLOSED and I have told them all that I will come back to haunt them if they open my casket. My mother or other closest living relatives have permission to view my body for identification and/or for emotional closure; otherwise, it is to be closed. I think the body viewing ceremony is very weird and awkward. Like I really need to look at someone's corpse to know they are really dead? It's just strange to me. I want photos -- many photos -- of me to be placed around my closed casket so my loved ones' last image of me won't be of my dead body.

Sorry, that was really a rambling post!

No, I feel the same way, LAWGIRL. I have never understood the open casket thing. Some people take pictures & put them in albums!

I want all my organs donated, then cremated & my ashes scattered somewhere that makes you feel good to look at it, like the ocean or a mountain cliff. I also want happy music at my funeral.

I want happy music, too. No "Beulah Land", etc. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it's not me. It wouldn't represent my happy-go-lucky spirit. I'm a Christian and hope all my loved ones meet me in Heaven someday, but I want my funeral to be a happy time. A celebration of my life. Not a mourning of my death. People can mourn privately. I want them to tell fun stories about me and their times with me at my funeral.

I'm an organ donor. It greatly disturbs my parents but I hope they will honor my wishes if something horrible happens. I have also told my family that I wish to be cremated but they wouldn't do that. So, I asked for no one to put flowers on my tombstone but to please ask for contributions to be made to a worthy cause instead.

Yes I am an organ donor. If my parts are not worn out by the time I die, I am glad for someone else to take them and use them . That is the last thing I can do for someone else and I am glad to do it.

2Pennies...it bothers my Mom, too, especially the cremation part. She has a hang-up about the resurrected body thing...thinks I won't have one I guess. I told her that if God made Adam from the dust of the earth, he can surely make me from my own ashes.

I told my husband that if my Mom got really distraught about it to not bend an inch on the organ donation, but that he could let the cremation go...but like LAWGIRL, if they open that casket, I'm going to request permission from God to make a few house calls.

When I go, I'm having a closed casket. I don't want anyone's last memory of me to be laying in a box wearing bad makeup. Closed box with a picture on top.

Next to the casket will be a keg of Guinness and everyone who passes by will be free to have some. That way I can buy all my friends and family one last pint before I go. My wife hates that idea, so I'm going to have to put it in the will somehow.

Hey Nash, you can go ahead and buy me a pint now. Just in case I go first!

I am an organ donor. Also when I die I want to be stuffed ,...like a deer. wearing flip flops Bermuda shorts and a tacky Hawaiian shirt. I will have a big goofy grin on my face and my eyes will be open. My family will have to rotate me from house to house quarterly and let me sit on the couch. Think you could legally write that up for me LAWGRL? Oh and I willing to donate my deck pre mortum. (it was going to be said sooner or later)

That was HILARIOUS, MentalFloss...thank you, I needed that this morning!

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Originally posted by MentalFloss:
I am an organ donor. Also when I die I want to be stuffed ,...like a deer. wearing flip flops Bermuda shorts and a tacky Hawaiian shirt. I will have a big goofy grin on my face and my eyes will be open. My family will have to rotate me from house to house quarterly and let me sit on the couch. Think you could legally write that up for me LAWGRL? Oh and I willing to donate my deck pre mortum. (it was going to be said sooner or later)

LOL, Mental Floss!!!! I am going to add this to my will!!!!

Thanks for the GREAT idea!!! hehehehe

I used to have my stuff signed, used to be able to sign the back and noone had to know until it was time. I stopped when it became a requirement to put on the license prior when you get it. Dont get me wrong, anyone who can use my organs are welcome to them if I am finished and my family know it. But I do not want to be part of a database just incase one of the Kennedys needs some replacement parts.

Maybe Lawgirl can help with this question here.

We have been talking about this subject at work for a while now with many of us having aged parents and all. One man, who has gone through several losses in the last year told us that is mattered NOT what one had signed, that their next of kin can STILL trump it.

I always thought that if I put things in writing, that it would make things easier for my kids, but come to find out (from him) IF even ONE of my kids disagree with my wishes, then they won't be carried out.

Is this true????

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Originally posted by Heub:
I used to have my stuff signed, used to be able to sign the back and noone had to know until it was time. I stopped when it became a requirement to put on the license prior when you get it. Dont get me wrong, anyone who can use my organs are welcome to them if I am finished and my family know it. But I do not want to be part of a database just incase one of the Kennedys needs some replacement parts.

I think you just said what a lot of people were thinking.

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Originally posted by Kindred:
Maybe Lawgirl can help with this question here.

We have been talking about this subject at work for a while now with many of us having aged parents and all. One man, who has gone through several losses in the last year told us that is mattered NOT what one had signed, that their next of kin can STILL trump it.

I always thought that if I put things in writing, that it would make things easier for my kids, but come to find out (from him) IF even ONE of my kids disagree with my wishes, then they won't be carried out.

Is this true????

Are you talking about a will, organ donation, or an advanced directive?

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Originally posted by LAWGIRL:

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Originally posted by Kindred:
Maybe Lawgirl can help with this question here.

We have been talking about this subject at work for a while now with many of us having aged parents and all. One man, who has gone through several losses in the last year told us that is mattered NOT what one had signed, that their next of kin can STILL trump it.

I always thought that if I put things in writing, that it would make things easier for my kids, but come to find out (from him) IF even ONE of my kids disagree with my wishes, then they won't be carried out.

Is this true????

Are you talking about a will, organ donation, or an advanced directive?

YES!!!!!!!


Lol, The man said ALL things to do with basic LIFE itself, not possessions can be overridden by other members of family.

I am not talking about estate or bank accounts, but creamation, organ donation, advance directive, living will and such????

Joy_
Hall of Famer

Posted 04 October 2007 07:56 AM Hide Post
2Pennies...it bothers my Mom, too, especially the cremation part. She has a hang-up about the resurrected body thing...thinks I won't have one I guess. I told her that if God made Adam from the dust of the earth, he can surely make me from my own ashes.

I told my husband that if my Mom got really distraught about it to not bend an inch on the organ donation, but that he could let the cremation go...but like LAWGIRL, if they open that casket, I'm going to request permission from God to make a few house calls.

"If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep...you are richer than 75% of this world."

Joy, I have told my husband at this point in my life that if I am on life support he had just better not let me get bored (or I'll haunt him!). I told him that someone had better either be reading a book to me or he'd better put a Stephen King novel on cassette for me to listen to. I have said that if none of the above seems to "stimulate" my brain then go ahead and donate me.

...and touching on the other question that was brought up...I know someone who received an organ transplant, he is rather famous about these parts, he used to drink and use drugs but he got a second chance at life due to an organ transplant and he turned his life around. I will just say that he is alive and well thanks to the transplant

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Originally posted by FirenzeVeritas:
For those who wish to serve others, one can be a living donor of bone marrow. There are restrictions--I could not join the registry because I have mitral valve prolapse. Most individuals are no so restricted.

It's easy to be added to the list--all they initially need is a sm. sample of your blood in order to test for certain qualities to be matched. If you should be a match in these areas, you will be called back in for more sophisticated testing.

Bone Marrow Registry
PLEASE register!
If my husband's cancer comes back, YOU might be the one to save his life.

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LA_Sara
New Kid on the Block

Posted 06 October 2007 02:38 PM Hide Post
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Originally posted by FirenzeVeritas:
For those who wish to serve others, one can be a living donor of bone marrow. There are restrictions--I could not join the registry because I have mitral valve prolapse. Most individuals are no so restricted.

It's easy to be added to the list--all they initially need is a sm. sample of your blood in order to test for certain qualities to be matched. If you should be a match in these areas, you will be called back in for more sophisticated testing.



Bone Marrow Registry
PLEASE register!
If my husband's cancer comes back, YOU might be the one to save his life.

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y

I would LOVE to register as a bone marrow donor but it's not as simple as it seems. The donor has to pay to even have the test to get on the list. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I have to pay about $80 to even sign up.

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Originally posted by Tw0PenniesToYa

I would LOVE to register as a bone marrow donor but it's not as simple as it seems. The donor has to pay to even have the test to get on the list. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I have to pay about $80 to even sign up.

I signed up over 15 years ago. At that time, I could not afford 80- bucks . . . Well, I could but I didn't want to. Anyway, they did it for free. So perhaps you can ask them again?

Since that time, I have had two near-opportunities to donate. Both times, some sort of incompatibility was found between the recipient's marrow and mine.

When I signed up, I assumed I would be saving lives on a regular basis. Oh well.