thinking of donating...

I just started the process to get on the list as a donor for kidney transplants. After discovering, late last year, I'd 'aged out' of the potential donors for blood marrow, I was sorta sad. Then read an article in the Sunday newspaper, Parade magazine section about a disconnected yet remarkable group of people who were kidney donors and thought: Hey! I can do that. The article described a series of fortunate circumstances by about a dozen different people who needed or had kidneys they were willing to part with. It was almost like a 'round robin' thing where "I know of a need" and "I've got a spare" and a matter of people getting matched up by the national transplant program as a result of knowing some one who had that desperate need, or a desire to give, but not knowing the person whose life would be changed by such an act of  unforseen kindness and unexpected generosity.

So when I accidently found myself no longer a candidate for marrow donation, as a result of going with someone else who wanted to sign up to give at a local donor drive - it was sad, but I've been around long enough to know that we all have to live within certain parameters. So though I pursued a possible exception to the 'rule', I also decided to check into kidney donations. The article in the paper indicated the first step would be to get in touch with the nearest site that would be part of the national network for transplanting organs. I discovered that to be Emory Hospital in Atlanta.

I just talked to someone at Emory Healthcare, which is the closest medical facility participating in organ transfer program. Had my initial interview, and will talk to the staff at length next week. In the same sense, though, of course much more invasive involved and intense, that I have made donations of pints to the ARC over many years (currently at just over 110), I thought: I have more than I need, and there is someone out there that this will really make a difference for... so why not? I believe that I have a number of body parts that are in relative good health, and sad to think that the marrow collectors think mine is too old to have any value. Not too much wanting to consider donating the unit as a whole to the Body Farm (to be left out in the weather to decompose at a natural rate) , but hope that there will be something of value in a physical sense to leave to someone who might benefit from what I have used, and thoroughly enjoyed -but not used up- for many years.