Myths of Organ Donation

Most of us know that donating our organs is a beautiful and amazing gift to leave behind. But even still, there are so many inaccurate myths out there about the process.

• If you agree to donate organs, the hospital staff won’t work as hard to save your life. As a patient in critical care, your life always comes first.
• What if I’m not really dead and they rush to use my organs? People who have agreed to organ donation are given more tests (at no charge to their families) to determine that they’re truly dead than are those who haven’t agreed to organ donation.
• Organ donation is against some religions. Organ donation is actually consistent with the beliefs of most major religions. This includes Roman Catholicism, Islam, most branches of Judaism and most Protestant faiths.
• If I’m under 18, I’m too young to make this choice. In a legal sense, yes, this is true. But your parents can authorize this decision if you feel ready. Younger people’s organs are in just as much of demand.
• An open-casket funeral isn’t an option for people who have donated organs or tissues. Organ and tissue donation doesn’t have to interfere with having an open-casket funeral. Since the donor’s body is clothed for burial, there are no visible signs of organ or tissue donation.
• I’m too old to donate. Nobody would want my organs. There’s no defined cutoff age for donating organs. The decision to use your organs is based on strict medical criteria, not age. Let your doctors decide at your time of death whether your organs and tissues are suitable for transplantation.
• I’m not in the best of health, so my organs are useless. Very few medical conditions automatically disqualify you from donating organs. The decision to use an organ is based on strict medical criteria. Again, don’t disqualify yourself prematurely.
• I’d like to donate one of my kidneys now, but I wouldn’t be allowed to do that unless one of my family members is in need. While that used to be the case, it isn’t any longer. You can now donate a kidney through certain transplant centers to anyone. If you decide to become a living donor, you will undergo extensive questioning to ensure that you are aware of the risks and that your decision to donate isn’t based on financial gain. You will also undergo testing to determine if your kidneys are in good shape and whether you can live a healthy life with just one kidney.
• Rich and famous people go to the top of the list when they need a donor organ. No one is given priority based on wealth or fame when it comes to allocating organs.
• My family will be charged if I donate my organs. The organ donor’s family is never charged for donating. Costs for organ removal go to the transplant recipient.
• I can only sign up to donate when getting/renewing my driver’s license, learner’s permit or photo ID. You can sign up to be an organ donor at any time — and it only takes 30 seconds. Sign up now.
• I don’t need to tell my family that I’d like to be a donor, because it’s already written in my will. By the time your will is read, it will be too late for you to be a donor. Telling your family now that you want to be an organ and tissue donor is the best way to help them understand your wishes and make certain they are honored.
• Minorities should refuse to donate because organ allocation discriminates by race. Organs are matched by many factors including blood type, medical urgency and time on the waiting list. A patient’s age, gender, race, ethnicity or wealth does not affect who receives available organs. Minorities make up more than half of the people currently on the organ transplant waiting list, and patients are more likely to find matches among donors of their same race or ethnicity. This is why it is especially important for minorities to sign up to be organ donors.
• Organs are sold, with enormous profits going to the medical community. Federal law prohibits buying and selling organs in the United States. Violators are punishable by prison sentences and fines.
• The recipient will know who I am. Information about the donor is released to the recipient only if the family of the donor requests or agrees to it. Otherwise, the strictest confidence of patient privacy is maintained for both donor families and recipients.
• “I heard that they take everything, even if I only want to donate my eyes.” You may specify which organs you want donated. Your wishes will be followed.
• Organ and tissue donation means my body will be mutilated and treated badly. Donated organs are removed surgically, in a routine operation similar to gallbladder or appendix removal. Donation doesn’t disfigure the body or change the way it looks in a casket.

Living Liver Donor

 — When Kelly Kinkade was told she needed a liver transplant, she assumed she would be placed on a list.

She would wait until someone with similar blood type and body size died, and then be contacted for surgery.

But a second option also existed.

As medical technology has advanced in the past 20 years, living-donor liver donations have increased. Surgeons can take a portion of the organ from a healthy person and implant it in the recipient. It offers an alternative for patients such as Kinkade, who would otherwise have to wait up to 10 years for a liver.

 

But because it's relatively new, few people are aware that they could provide a new life for those suffering from liver failure.

"People don't realize that it's possible. You hear so much about the other potential transplants," Kinkade told the Daily Journal (http://bit.ly/1fMsVy0 ). "There are probably a lot of people who have the heart to help others, but they don't know that they have the opportunity."

Traditionally, liver transplants have been conducted with a liver donated from someone who has died.

But the liver is unique in that only a portion needs to be removed to be used in a transplant.

It is the only internal organ with the ability to regenerate after it has been damaged, said Lori Clark, a registered nurse at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, Ill.

Within 90 days of the transplant, it can grow back to a healthy size.

The liver is one of the few organs in the body that can be taken from a living donor. Kidneys and parts of the pancreas, lungs and intestines also can come from a living person.

Living-donor liver transplants have been performed only since 1989, when a portion of an adult liver was placed in a child. Four years later, the first adult-to-adult transplant was done.

Nearly 5,000 of the procedures have been performed in the U.S., according to the United Network of Organ Sharing.

Potential living donors have to be the same blood types as the transplant patient, they have to be 55 years old or younger, and they have to have a healthy weight-to-height ratio, according to Clark.

To start the process, doctors have to take a battery of blood tests to determine liver health.

Taking a scan of a potential donor's liver, doctors determine that the vein and artery providing fresh blood to the liver, as well as the bile duct, were large enough to allow for a transplant.

Living donation brings with it complications that other transplants don't. Because it's a major surgery, donors could experience severe bleeding, infections, bile leaks or hernias, according to Clark.

The possibility of death is always present with a surgery on a major organ, Clark said.

But psychological effects also are a risk. The donors are left with a scar that can impact their body image. They often feel depression, anxiety or stress after the surgery.

If the recipient rejects the organ, it can lead to anger and feelings of hopelessness.

But for those who need it, living donation can be the only way to get the transplant.

"The doctors have told me it will be years until I could get a liver otherwise," Kinkade said. "Living donation is my best shot."

In living liver donor surgery, a surgeon removes a part of the donor's liver, typically the right half. This donated segment of the liver is then immediately placed in the recipient in the next operating room.

The remaining part of the donor's liver is sufficient to maintain normal body functions. The recipient also receives a large enough segment of the donor liver to maintain body functions.

During approximately the next two months, the remaining and transplanted parts of the donor liver grow to normal size, providing normal long-term liver function for the donor and the recipient.

The Gift of a Lifetime

The gift of a lifetime

Published 11:24am Thursday, December 26, 2013

By MOLLIE BROWN/Community columnist

Christmas encompasses charity and selfless giving. Becoming a living organ donor is the ultimate selfless act of generosity and love. It’s no small undertaking, but Charlotte Horne gave thought to nothing more than it was the right thing to do when her husband Alan needed a kidney.

Charlotte and Alan Horne (contributed)

High blood pressure, which went unnoticed in Alan’s 30s, damaged his kidneys. It was five years ago, at age 53, when medical tests indicated kidney disease.

“It’s such a gradual thing. People who suffer from it don’t know they don’t feel good,” Charlotte said. “I would look at Alan while he was asleep and boohoo because his skin looked deathly gray and it killed me there wasn’t anything I could do about it.”

A year ago Alan had to begin thinking about a transplant or dialysis and what type dialysis. His nephrologist, Dr. Roman Shingarev at UAB, referred him for transplant evaluation.

“Charlotte was the first to ask to be tested for compatibility,” Alan said. “She is a universal donor because her blood type is O. They combined our tissues samples in a petri dish and if they left each other alone, we were a match. We were and our surgeries were performed September 16.”

Kidney recipients keep their own kidneys in addition to a transplant. Charlotte’s left kidney was removed and implanted on Alan’s right side. Alan takes two pills a day to thwart rejection and receives intravenous medication once a month through a drug story program. Charlotte has resumed driving her school bus and Alan has returned to his job at Cahaba Valley Animal Clinic.

“I worried for a long time and was in such a terrible state of mind before the transplant,” Charlotte said. “Only God showing his grace got us through this. We are so grateful for family, friends and our Concord Church family, who have taken care of us and prayed for us throughout the process.”

The Hornes are organ donors and encourage others to consider giving others the gift of life. Living donors receive priority should they ever need an organ. More information about kidney transplant is available at uabmedicine.org/kidneytransplant.

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