EDITORIAL: Consider helping others with organ donation
Morning News
Published: June 27, 2010
While suffering the worst loss a mother can suffer, Tabitha Hudson bravely chose to help four other people live.
On June 1, Hudson’s 13-year-old son, Timquan McAllister, died after drowning at Dar-lington’s municipal swimming pool. His 13-year-old cousin, Justin McKay, died within two hours of both boys being pulled from the pool May 29.
As Hudson agonized over the death of her son, she allowed him to remain on life support so that his organs could be harvested.
Four people Hudson’s never met, including a mother of two, received her son’s organs and are alive today, Darlington County Coroner Todd Hardee said during an inquest on the boys’ deaths June 17.
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 74 people receive an organ transplant every day while 17 others die each day waiting for transplants that can’t take place because of the shortage of donated organs.
The same agency says the rate of organ donation in minority communities doesn’t keep pace with the number needing transplants. “Although minorities donate in proportion to their share of the population, their need for transplants is much greater. That’s because some diseases of the kidney, heart, lung, pancreas and liver that can lead to organ failure are found more frequently in ethnic minority populations than in the general population. Blacks, Asians, Pacific Islanders and Hispanics are three times more likely than whites to suffer from kidney disease. Many also blacks have high blood pressure (hypertension), which can lead to kidney failure.
Matches are more likely and more timely when donors and potential recipients are members of the same ethnic background because, generally, people are genetically more simi-lar to people of their own ethnicity or race. Also, minority patients may have to wait longer for matched kidneys and may be sicker at the time of transplant or die waiting. With more donated organs from minorities, finding a match will be quicker and the wait-ing time will be reduced, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services says.
Donate Life America, a not-for-profit alliance of national organizations and state teams that encourage organ donation, also offers these facts:
1. Anyone can be a potential donor regardless of age, race, or medical history.
2. If you are sick or injured and admitted to the hospital, the No. 1 priority is to save your life. Organ, eye and tissue donation can only be considered after you are deceased.
3. When you are on the waiting list for an organ, what really counts is the severity of your illness, time spent waiting, blood type, and other important medical information, not your financial status or celebrity status.
4. An open casket funeral is possible for organ, eye and tissue donors. Through the entire donation process the body is treated with care, respect and dignity.
5. There is no cost to the donor or their family for organ or tissue donation.
In South Carolina, residents can sign up to be organ donors online in the South Carolina Donor Registry at http://www.donatelifesc.org and indicate their wishes on a driver’s license or state ID when applying for or renewing it. Adults in the Palmetto State don’t require fam-ily consent to be an organ, eye or tissue donor. Letting loved ones know ahead of time, however, helps avoid any confusion or delays.
Most religions support organ and tissue donation as a charitable act of love and giving.
When reflecting on Tabitha Hudson’s decision, it’s hard to see it any other way.
Please consider organ donation.
IF YOU DO NOT RESIDE IN SOUTH CAROLINA PLEASE VISIT ORGAN DONOR.GOV TO LEARN HOW TO REGISTER IN YOUR STATE
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YOU HAVE THE POWER TO SAVE LIVES. PLEDGE AND REGISTER TODAY
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