Info on Organ Donation

Organ donation takes healthy organs and tissues from one person for transplantation into another. Experts say that the organs from one donor can save or help as many as 50 people. Organs you can donate include:

Internal organs: Kidneys, heart, liver, pancreas, intestines, lungs

Skin

Bone and bone marrow

Cornea

People of all ages and background can be organ donors. If you are under age 18, your parent or guardian must give you permission to become a donor. If you are 18 or older you can show you want to be a donor by signing a donor card. You should also let your family know your wishes.
Do you know that there are two types of organ donation? One is nonliving donation and the other is living donation. However living donation is better in some aspects compared to the nonliving donation and the details will be discussed later. First of all, what is living donation?
Living donation takes place when a living person donates an organ (or part of an organ) for transplantation to another person. The living donor can be a family member, such as a parent, child, brother or sister (living related donation).Living donation can also come from someone who is emotionally related to the recipient, such as a good friend, spouse or an in-law (living unrelated donation).
In some cases, living donation may even be from a stranger, which is called nondirected donation.
The organ most commonly given by a living donor is the kidney. People usually have two kidneys, and one is all that is needed to live a normal life. Parts of other organs including the lung, liver and pancreas are now being transplanted from living donors.
Now let we move on to what I have mentioned above about the advantages of living donation over nonliving donation.
Transplants performed from living donors have several advantages compared to transplants performed from nonliving donors (individuals who have been declared brain dead and their families have made the decision to donate their organs).
First, some living donor transplants are done between family members who are genetically similar. A better genetic match lessens the risk of rejection. Second, a kidney from a living donor usually functions immediately, making it easier to monitor.
Some nonliving donor kidneys do not function immediately and as a result, the patient may require dialysis until the kidney starts to function. Lastly, potential donors can be tested ahead of time to find the donor who is most compatible with the recipient. The transplant can take place at a time convenient for both donor and recipient.
The most common question that will come across one’s mind when living donation are mentioned is, are transplants from living donors always successful? The answer is, although transplantation is highly successful, and success rates continue to improve, problems may occur. Sometimes, the kidney is lost to rejection, surgical complications or the original disease that caused the recipient’s kidneys to fail.
I’m also want to touch a bit about some of the common organ donation. The first is about the liver donation. Donating a section of a liver is riskier than kidney donation, and much less common. Transplanting a piece of the liver works because the liver regenerates itself in both the donor and recipient after the transplantation.
Besides being in excellent physical and psychological health, the liver donor must undergo extensive examinations and testing. A radiological imaging of the liver is done to assess the anatomy, liver volume and size. A liver biopsy may be performed. Most often parents donate a piece of a liver to a child. Adult to adult live liver transplant is still relatively rare.
Next is about the lung donation. Living lung donation involves two adults giving the right and left lower lobes from each respectively to an adult or pediatric recipient. The potential donors’ lungs must be the right size and volume. For adult recipients, the donors should be at least as tall as the recipient. Ideally, donors should not be overweight and should be nonsmokers.
Potential donors receive a series of exams and tests including chest radiography, pulmonary function testing, ventilation-perfusion scanning and computed tomography, and a cardiac stress test. Again, donating a lung is riskier than live kidney donation.
There are few steps involves in the blood donation. Initially, a trained staff person will ask you some health history questions during a private and confidential interview. You will have your temperature, iron level, blood pressure and pulse checked in order to protect your health and well being.
After that, the staff will cleanse an area on your arm and insert a needle for the blood drawing procedure. You will have 7-10 minutes to relax while the bag is filling. When approximately a pint of blood has been collected, the staff person will remove the needle and place a bandage on your arm.
Finally, you will spend a few minutes enjoying refreshments to allow your body time to adjust to the slight decrease in fluid volume. You can then leave the donation site and continue with your normal daily activities.
So, that all from me. What are you waiting for now? Let us all make hay while the sun shines. Let’s sign ourselves as organ donors. Thank you.

Narrated by: Mohd Hazwan bin Mohd Rosmi
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