A present for the future

Organ and tissue transplants are saving and improving lives today. Annually, more than 20,000 organ transplants and thousands of tissue transplants are performed in the United States. Transplantation is a very successful treatment for many people who are suffering from end-stage organ failure.

While transplantation saves thousands of lives each year, more than 50,000 men, women and children are still waiting because there simply are not enough organs available for transplantation. And hundreds of thousands more could benefit from a tissue transplant. You can help save lives by choosing to become an organ and tissue donor.

Each of us needs to think and talk about how we feel about organ and tissue donation.

Chances are, you, a family member or friend may know someone who needs a transplant or who has received one. I addition, at the time of the death of a loved one, you may be involved in considering organ and tissue donation for that person. Some of us may be organ and tissue donors ourselves at the time of our death.

Knowing a person's wishes toward organ and tissue donation may help a family in considering their feelings and decisions about donation. At the time of a person's death, the family will be offered the option of donation and must give their written consent before donation can occur.

The most important step in considering organ and tissue donation is to talk with your family. It is the best way to know each other's wishes. You also can show your intention to be a donor by signing a Uniform Donor Card. A donor card is printed on the back of your driver's license or state identification card. There also is a donor card in this brochure. In addition, you can show your intention toward organ and tissue donation by being listed in the organ and tissue donor registry through Illinois and Indiana driver's license facilities.

As you consider and share your feelings about organ and tissue donation, please use the information in this brochure as a resource for your questions and your conversations with family and friends.

Will having a signed donor card or a listing in the organ and tissue donor registry affect the care I receive in the hospital?

No. Every effort is made to save a person's life in an accident, injury or disease process. The organ and tissue donation process does not begin until death occurs and the family is offered the option of donation. Transplant teams are not involved in a patient's care prior to death.

If I choose to be an organ and tissue donor, how will my family be involved?

At the time of death, families may be asked to consider the donation of organs and tissues. A Regional Organ Bank of Illinois (ROBI) coordinator and hospital staff will explain the donation process and answer the family's questions. Many donor families say they have found great comfort knowing that other lives can be saved or improved through donation.

Are there costs associated with organ and tissue donation?

No. There is no cost to the donor's family for organ and tissue donation. These costs are assumed by the recipient of the organs and tissues. Most insurance policies now cover organ transplantation. Medicare also will pay for certain organ transplants. The donor's family is responsible for the medical costs prior to giving their consent for donation and for funeral costs.

What about funeral arrangements?

Organ and tissue donation is a dignified, sterile process and does not disfigure the body. Donation should not delay the family's funeral plans. Open casket visitations, burial or cremation are possible.

Who will receive the donated organs?

The ROBI coordinator uses a national computer system, within strict federal guidelines which assure ethical and equitable distribution, to offer organs to transplant surgeons for their patients. Organs are offered to patients in ROBI's service area first. If no match is found, the organs are offered regionally and then nationally. The computer system lists all potential recipients based on their blood type, body size, medical urgency, length of time on the waiting list, tissue match, and the distance they are from their transplant center. Hearts, livers and lungs are matched by blood type and body size. In matching kidneys, the donor and recipient's genetic tissue type also is considered in determining the match.

How do I indicate my wishes to be an organ and tissue donor?

Sharing your wishes about organ and tissue donation with your family is the first step. You also can sign a Uniform Donor Card. The card is a legal document that uses a standard fill-in-the-blank format offering three options: donate any and all organs and tissues; donate specific organs and/or tissues; donate the body for medical study. There also is space for the signature of two witnesses. Simply sign the card with a ball-point pen and have two adults sign as witnesses. If the driver's license is used, sign over the plastic laminate. Anyone can sign a Uniform Donor Card. Those under age 18 must have a family member as one of the two witnesses. You also can be listed in the organ and tissue donor registry through your local driver's license facility.

To Remember Me

Give my sight to the man who has never seen a sunrise, a baby's face or love in the eyes of a woman.

Give my heart to a person whose own heart has caused nothing but endless days of pain.

Give my blood to the teenager who was pulled from the wreckage of his car, so that he might live to see his grandchildren play.

Give my kidneys to one who depends on a machine to exist from week to week.

Take my bones, every muscle, every fiber and nerve in my body and find a way to make a crippled child walk.

If you must bury something, let it be my faults, my weaknesses and all prejudice against my fellow man.

Give my sins to the devil.

Give my soul to God.

If, by chance, you wish to remember me, do it with a kind deed or word to someone who needs you. If you do all I have asked, I will live forever.

-Robert N. Test

Did You Know…

• Virtually anyone-from birth to age 80-can be a potential organ or tissue donor, providing certain medical criteria are met.
• The following organs are being transplanted: heart, liver, lungs, kidneys, pancreas and intestine. Corneas, bone, ligaments, tendons, heart valves and saphenous veins are among the tissues that can be transplanted.
• Kidneys are the most needed organs in terms of the number of people waiting. In terms of lifesaving ability, hearts, lungs and livers also are greatly needed.
• Organs and tissues from one person can help as many as 25 to 50 individuals.
• It is illegal to buy or sell organs and tissues.
• Most religions support organ and tissue donation as a charitable act of love and giving.
  
  
  

My Commitment to Share Life Uniform Donor Card

For more information on organ and tissue donation, please contact:

	800 South Wells, Suite 190 Chicago, IL 60607-4529 Tel 312-431-3600 Fax 312-803-7643 http://www.robi.org

This publication was prepared by Regional Organ Bank of Illinois.