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herlife | healthThe PositiveImpact ofOrgan Donationby kathleen m. kruegerDebra’s younger brother was experiencing kidney failure andhad begun dialysis. He needed a kidney transplant. Alongwith other family members, Debra submitted a bloodsample in order to determine if she would be a suitable candidate asher brother’s donor. After her match was determined, she made thedecision to be her brother’s donor. She underwent an extensive medicalexam to rule out any medical conditions which might exclude heras a candidate, and underwent a social and psychological evaluationas well. Being ruled in excellent physical and mental health, thetransplant was scheduled and Debra donated one of her kidneys toher brother. That was in 1994.It has been over 15 years since Debra voluntarily underwent majorsurgery in order to provide her brother with the chance to extendhis life. Her brother has just turned 50 and is still living with Debra’skidney in his body, providing the necessary organ functions he needsto survive. Debra has lived a healthy life with little evidence that theloss of a kidney has taken place outside of the massive scar whichcircles halfway around her torso.Debra was a living organ donor, an option which does includeserious risks for the donor, but can avoid the wait for an appropriatematch from a deceased donor. In either case, the recipient isprovided with a greater potential for living a longer life due to thereplacement of a failing organ.Kidney transplants are the most common organ transplant—asclose to 90 percent of those waiting for an organ donation are inneed of a kidney. Liver transplants are next on the list with over15,000 individuals listed on the transplant waiting list in the U.S. asof March 2012. To demonstrate the disparity between the need andthe number of donors—in 2011, a total of 14,144 individuals servedas organ donors, and over 6,000 of those were living donors. Yet, as ofMarch 2012, there were still over 100,000 names on the organ transplantwaiting list. “With nearly 7,000 people dying each year due toa lack of available organs for transplant, the need is great,” says DavidFleming, president and CEO of Donate Life America.In spite of extensive efforts to educate the public, there arestill several misconceptions regarding organ donation. For instance,many people assume that their organs would not be accepted fortransplantation due to their health history. Medical history is takeninto account when selecting organs for transplant, but any individual,regardless of health history, can offer to be an organ donor followingtheir death. The fear that having yourself listed as an organ donorwill affect the efforts of hospital staff in performing life-saving treatmentis totally unfounded. A patient’s donor status is never a factor intreatment by medical staff. There are also no medical costs incurredby a donor or the donor’s family when an individual donates an organas a living donor or after they have deceased.Based on Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network’s(OPTN) data as of July 24, 2009, over 80 percent of kidney trans-10 HERLIFEnewyork.com