The power of second chances
By Amy Calder acalder@mainetoday.com
Staff Writer
Under the picture on my driver's license is a symbol I've come to hold very dear: A tiny red heart.
No, it doesn't mean I'm a member of the American Heart Association, or that I was born on Valentine's Day.
It means I'm an organ donor, and that when my brain is no longer functioning, someone whose life literally depends on it may get one of my organs.
I'm rather proud that I have the power to potentially save someone's life, although it hasn't always been so.
In my teens and twenties, I couldn't imagine the thought of someone cutting into my body to remove an organ, even as I'm headed to the great beyond. The idea was so -- ick.
My thinking began to change when I got a little older.
In 1992-93 I wrote stories about a 13-year-old boy from Skowhegan whose heart was destroyed by an uncommon virus. One day Travis Conway was playing sports and the next, he was on life support in Children's Hospital in Boston, waiting for a heart.
It was Christmas time, and the whole town rallied to raise money for Travis's medical bills and awareness about his need for a heart, by holding a huge Christmas dinner. The days ticked by; the deadline was slipping away.
On his 13th day on life support, just when we thought it was too late, a heart surfaced from a donor whose family wished to remain anonymous.
Travis had the transplant, and survived. He is alive today and has since also had a kidney transplant.
I decided to call him up Tuesday see how he is doing, which, it turns out, is very well, 17 years after his heart transplant.
He has worked nine years as an agency auditor for a Fortune 500 company just outside of Boston and lives every day to its fullest. He sounded happy and upbeat.
"It's been pretty smooth sailing," he said. "Physically, I have no restrictions. Things have gone very well. It's amazing."
Travis says he still has the newspaper stories about his heart transplant, and is forever grateful to the donor's family -- and the people from his hometown who raised money for him all those years ago. While his father had good health insurance at the time, the bills mounted.
"I can't get over such a small town coming up with $45,000 and change," Travis said. "We paid medical bills with that for probably eight years. It was huge."
Of all people, he understands the importance of being an organ donor. And the irony is, he wants to be one himself, but is prohibited from doing so because of his medical condition and the medicine he takes.
"I would, absolutely in a second, go under the knife to give an organ to save someone's life, given what I've been through," he said.
Talking with Travis was, no pun intended, heart-warming.
When I was diagnosed with Crohn's disease 17 years ago and a few years later, had my own brush with mortality, I began to realize just how precious it is to get another chance.
I decided if I was able, I'd pass that opportunity on to someone else.
I am reminded of the saying that there are no atheists in foxholes. I quickly shed the fear of being an organ donor. It was a no-brainer.
Becoming a donor was as easy as filling out a little form when I renewed my driver's license. But there are other -- more immediate ways to do it. Most states have donor registries. You can register at OrganDonor.gov. For information about organ donation, you may call the New England Organ Bank at 800-446-6362 or visit www.neob.org
Donor organizations encourage people who want to be donors to tell family members, because hospitals need consent to remove organs from someone who is not an official organ donor.
For many people, talking about death and what happens afterward is very difficult. It's a tough subject to contemplate.
But the simple action of signing a card or telling a family member you want to be a donor can save someone's life.
Can you imagine a deed more fulfilling?
The thing is, any one of us could get injured in a car accident or fall off a horse or become hurt in any number of ways -- any time -- and suddenly need the gift of life.
It could happen to our mothers, fathers, sisters or brothers; grandparents, children, friends.
They say an organ transplant can affect 50 or more people -- not just the organ recipient, but dozens of others in his or her sphere. Imagine affecting so many people in a positive way after you have died.
It's like leaving a will of goodwill -- a priceless gift worth more than all the money in the world.
April is National Donate Life Month. The Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research reports that more than 100,000 people in the U.S. are waiting for organs -- right now -- and many will not get them.
While most people don't want to die, we don't have a choice. And few of us have a choice as to when that will be.
But we can change the trajectory of someone else's fate, from death to life.
What power.
Amy Calder has been a Morning Sentinel reporter 22 years. Her column appears here Saturdays. She may be reached at acalder@centralmaine.com
No comments:
Post a Comment