Health

May 2005 

The Ultimate Gift

Becoming an organ donor can mean a life-saving break for another.

Callie Waldrop, a former biology teacher from Helena, Alabama, knows firsthand the benefits of becoming an organ donor. Seven years ago, one of her relatives needed a heart transplant. Through a gift from an anonymous organ donor, he got the heart he needed—and is no longer living on borrowed time.

“A new heart made him a new man,” says Waldrop, who has volunteered to be an organ donor, along with her husband, Gerald, and two adult children.

“I figured if I’m gone and someone else can be helped, that’s something that I should do,” says Waldrop, who taught at two state community colleges for 30 years before retiring in 1995. “To give someone else the gift of life is something we should all think about. It’s the right thing to do and a way to help other people.”

If you’ve never given much thought to whether to donate your organs, you should know that the process is simple—and the need great. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services estimates more than 87,000 candidates are awaiting transplants of the kidney, pancreas, liver, lung, heart, and bone marrow. Seventy people daily undergo transplants, it says, but 17 others die because of a shortage of donated organs.

Anyone can become a donor, and you’re never too old to sign up. (Your physical condition, not your age, is most important.) To become a donor, simply indicate it on your driver’s license or carry an organ donor card in your wallet. The cards are available for download and printing at the Health and Human Services Web site for organ and tissue donation and transplantation.

Helen and Gene Craig, retired educators living in Libertyville, Illinois, say the potential for saving lives motivated them to sign up as donors.

“It was the right thing to do if someone needed anything I had to give,” says Helen, 72, a former first-grade teacher. “Be sure to let your family know that’s what you want. Sometimes kids get real emotional. Let them know ahead of time while you’re healthy.”

Says Gene, 73, a former teacher, administrator, and counselor: “There are so many people out there who can lead productive lives, and if I can be a party to helping that occur, I think it’s something to be considered.”

Constance Knowlton has gone a step further than most organ donors—she’s agreed to donate her body to the medical school at Michigan State University. The 74-year-old retired teacher from Lansing, Michigan, knows her gift will help train a new generation of medical and osteopathic professionals and possibly lead to important research and cures.

She doesn’t harbor doubts about her decision. “If they can learn from my rusty old bones, they’re welcome to them,” she laughs. “If you can leave something of you with somebody that’s a kind of immortality,” adds Knowlton, who retired in 1994 after teaching social studies and English for 31 years. “It’s a personal decision. For me, it’s a good thing.”

To seniors sitting on the fence about becoming donors, Gene Craig offers this nudge: “As an educator you’ve been giving all of your life,” he says. “Here’s a way to continue to give.”

—Mike Tucker

Myths vs. Facts

Myth: Doctors will not try to save my life if they know I want to be a donor.
FACT: Donation takes place and transplant surgeons are called only after medical staff have exhausted all efforts to save a life and death is imminent or has been declared.

Myth: Minorities should refuse to donate because organ distribution discriminates by race.
FACT: Organs are matched by factors, including blood and tissue typing, which can vary by race. Patients are more likely to find matches among donors of their same race or ethnicity.

Source: www.organdonor.gov