Source: Crazy Cool With a Side of Crafty
Imagine spending your afternoon connected to a dialysis machine. Or resigning from your job because you can no longer see. Or being confined to a bed because your heart just doesn’t work like it should.
Right now, 1,686 Missourians are waiting for life-saving organ transplants and hundreds more require life-enhancing bone, eye and tissue transplants. By making a pledge through www.donatelifemissouri.com, you tell the world you wish to give the gift of life to these individuals.
Right now, 1,686 Missourians are waiting for life-saving organ transplants and hundreds more require life-enhancing bone, eye and tissue transplants. By making a pledge through www.donatelifemissouri.com, you tell the world you wish to give the gift of life to these individuals.
Can You be a Donor?
One of the things we at Donate Life Missouri hear most at donor drives is “I want to be a donor, but I can’t be because I have diabetes…cancer…poor eyesight.” The truth is – if you don’t have a communicable disease like HIV or hepatitis, you may be able to be a donor in some capacity. While guidelines for organ donation are stringent due to age, blood type, etc., those for bone, tissue and eye are a bit more lax.
In fact, we recently spoke with a family whose nine-year-old son gave sight to two individuals after he passed away from a brain tumor. Said his mother, “We felt like what happened to us was so tragic, but from day one we looked for the good in the situation. If there was anything we could do for someone else, we would do it.”
In fact, we recently spoke with a family whose nine-year-old son gave sight to two individuals after he passed away from a brain tumor. Said his mother, “We felt like what happened to us was so tragic, but from day one we looked for the good in the situation. If there was anything we could do for someone else, we would do it.”
Making the Pledge
Pledging to be a donor is super simple and takes just five minutes! Plus, recent changes in the law have placed the final decision to donate in your hands. In 2008, Missouri became a first-person consent state, meaning your legally documented decision will be honored, and your family won’t be faced with that choice should something happen to you.
How do you know if you’re on the first-person consent registry? Check your license – if there’s a heart symbol, you’re one of the 2,850,000 generous Missourians who have made the pledge.
No heart symbol? Here’s the run-down:
· If you registered to donate before August 28, 2008, you’re on the donor registry, but you have not given first-person consent. The decision to donate would be left to your family.
· The next time you renew or obtain a license at the DMV, you’ll be asked to join the first-person consent registry. If you say yes, a heart symbol will be added to your license.
· Don’t want to wait until your next license renewal? Head over towww.donatelifemissouri.com. Here, you can make your pledge, select which organs and tissue you wish to donate, and note if you want your donation to go research as well as transplantation. If you join online, you’re on the registry, but your license will not reflect this wish until the next time you go to the DMV and say “yes” to donation.
Even with first-person consent – and I can’t stress this enough – talk to your family about your decision. You’ll not only reinforce your final wishes, you may encourage others to join you in the mission to save life.
To learn more about donation, please check out www.donatelifemissouri.com. If you do not live in Missouri but would like to get more information about organ and tissue donation please visit www.donatelife.net.
How do you know if you’re on the first-person consent registry? Check your license – if there’s a heart symbol, you’re one of the 2,850,000 generous Missourians who have made the pledge.
No heart symbol? Here’s the run-down:
· If you registered to donate before August 28, 2008, you’re on the donor registry, but you have not given first-person consent. The decision to donate would be left to your family.
· The next time you renew or obtain a license at the DMV, you’ll be asked to join the first-person consent registry. If you say yes, a heart symbol will be added to your license.
· Don’t want to wait until your next license renewal? Head over towww.donatelifemissouri.com. Here, you can make your pledge, select which organs and tissue you wish to donate, and note if you want your donation to go research as well as transplantation. If you join online, you’re on the registry, but your license will not reflect this wish until the next time you go to the DMV and say “yes” to donation.
Even with first-person consent – and I can’t stress this enough – talk to your family about your decision. You’ll not only reinforce your final wishes, you may encourage others to join you in the mission to save life.
To learn more about donation, please check out www.donatelifemissouri.com. If you do not live in Missouri but would like to get more information about organ and tissue donation please visit www.donatelife.net.
Thank you Nicole Plegge for writting this post. Nicole works for Heartland Lions Eye Bankas well as a pop culture blogger for St. Louis Kids Magazine. Oh and she is a super cool mama friend of mine. Wanna see how this Mom Roll then you should check out her blog. Or you can find her on Twitter too.
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