Save the life of someone who deserves it

updated and reprinted from September 10, 2006

I'm an organ donor. For most of my life I wasn't. Why, I reasoned, should I sign up to allow doctors to remove my organs and give them to some anonymous persons about whom I could never know anything? Suppose they were people I didn't like, or even might hate? Suppose they were people that, could I know, I would consider not deserving of my help. When I found out that about half of the people who receive donated organs weren't even donors themselves, I had no doubt that they didn't deserve my donated organs.

Imagine this scenario... not probable, but a completely plausible worst case. My daughter and I are in an auto accident together. I die in the hospital, but my daughter lives, and is in need of an organ transplant in order to survive. I've given permission to take my organs, and one of those organs is just what she needs for survival, but... my organs cannot go to my daughter... I've bequeathed them into the organ and tissue donation and transplantation system, which will decide who gets my organs. There are already people waiting for my organs... people on the list before my daughter. My organs will be removed and transported to strangers in other places... while my own daughter can, at best, go on the list and wait her turn. There are over 92,000 100,000 people on that list. She could easily become one of the 19 people who die every day while waiting for a suitable donated organ.

I called that example an improbable worst case. Of course, it isn't terribly improbable. Most of us travel with our relatives in groups. My daughter and I recently drove together for 3 days straight. A bad accident wasn't that improbable. Considering that the trip could have included a couple of other people, the odds for my original "worst case" get even worse. My organs could have been denied to everyone else in my traveling group, and instead given to someone who would always be a stranger to us.

Doesn't make much sense, does it? I donate potentially life-saving organs at my death, but I have absolutely no control over who gets them. I can't even give certain people, such as my children, grandchildren, or other relatives first choice if they happen to need them at that time. I can't even prevent people not willing to be donors themselves from receiving my organs. Who would put together such a scheme? Guess.

The Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN), is the unified transplant network established by the United States Congress under the National Organ Transplant Act (NOTA) of 1984 (the same bill that made it illegal to sell your organs or tissue) to be operated by a private, non-profit organization under federal contract.

The OPTN does do a lot of good, matching donated organs with recipients, but it has an ever-increasing shortage of donors. There is no database of donors, but it should be safe to assume that only 20% of Americans have chosen to be donors, since we know that only 20% of organ recipients are donors. A life-saving organ donation costs nothing of the donor or his/her family, and doesn't prevent an open-casket funeral, but still only 20% of us opt into the program.

Why? One reason may be ignorance or misunderstanding of organ donation. Another may be that we tend to think that bad things only happen to other people. I believe one major reason is that organ donation is so bureaucratically impersonal. You give, somebody receives (probably several people), but there is no connection between you the donor and the recipient(s). Frankly, it's just like every other government program... some give, some receive, but with no personal connection. Nobody to be pleased about helping, and nobody to thank.

There is a way to make organ donation more personal, more sensible... a way to insure at least that those who have pledged to donate their organs can jump to the top of the list... ahead of those who aren't donors. At least you can know that the needy recipient was willing to donate their own organs.


The organization is called LifeSharers, founded by one dedicated man, Dave Undis, with the idea that DONORS should get first chance at organs, ahead of those who haven't even bothered to become donors. That idea means that there is an advantage... an incentive, to become a donor. That idea should increase the number of donors, and it has.

When I first wrote about LifeSharers, and joined myself, in June of 2003, it was just a year old and had 795 members. As of August 31st, LifeSharers has 5,863 members. (As I write, membership is at 12,261) I suspect that a lot of those members were like me - non-donors until LifeSharers gave them the additional incentive of being able to help those that deserve it most.

As a member of LifeSharers, and a donor, my organs would first go to any other LifeSharers members in need of an organ. If no LifeSharers member needed my organs, then they would be made available to others. To date, no LifeSharers member has died in circumstances that would have permitted recovery of their organs. Could that be good karma at work?

LifeSharers growth is just by word of mouth, and we all need to pass that word. (If you're on Facebook, join there too) Sign up to be a LifeSharers donor (it's free), and encourage your family members to do the same. In 2005, 20,000 transplantable organs were buried or cremated, while over 6,000 people died waiting for organs.

That's just a waste, and it's so easily solved. Become a donor and join LifeSharers. Everything else you might want to know is on the website.