How Many Resolutions Have You Kept?

An open letter:

So… here it is the end of January. How many of those New Year’s resolutions have you kept? How about a resolution that will place no demands upon your wallet? This resolution can also make you a HERO – something many of us have always yearned to do.

What am I talking about? Becoming an organ, eye and tissue donor. Every day across America 18 people die awaiting a transplant. As of Jan. 7, 2011 there were 110,112 individuals in the United States awaiting a life- saving organ transplant. Every ten minutes another person is added to the list.

So what’s stopping folks from joining the donor registry? Sometimes myths such as apprehension on the procedure, the concern of whether the doctors will work to save your life if you are listed as an organ donor or how transplantation may reflect one’s religious views prevent people from registering.

Through educating yourself you can easily dispel these myths. The procedure of organ recovery occurs with the utmost respect to the donor and his or her family. The doctors that are involved in recovering organs are not the same as those that worked diligently to save the person’s life. Only when it is determined that a person will not survive and every effort to save a person’s life has failed, is the subject of donation brought up with the family. As for the religious beliefs, there is not one major religion in that U.S. that is opposed to organ donation.

Our son Jason was killed in an automobile accident in June 2003 and gave the “Gift of Life” as an organ donor. Since then, we have tried to help educate the public about organ donation and work to register donors. It’s amazing that 95 percent of American adults approve of donation as an important life-saving practice, but in a state as Ohio for example, only about 52 percent are registered donors.

So what’s stopping you from making a resolution to save lives? If you need more information, learn the facts to help you make an educated decision to register as a donor. Every donor has the potential of saving eight lives through organ donation and enhancing over 50 lives with tissue donation.

Aren’t you a giver at heart? We feel fortunate to have met Jason’s heart recipient and feel blessed that Jason decided to be an organ donor. To know that his heart beats on in Russ makes Jason our HERO. Be someone’s HERO this year and resolve to be an organ, eye and tissue donor.

Peace,

Sue and Mike Murphy, donor parents