Friday, April 30, 2010

Britons ponder whether to pay organ donors

Paying for a transplant organ is illegal in almost every country in the world and there is a thriving black market in organs, often from the less developed world to western countries, leading to claims that the poor are being exploited and that people short of money will take desperate measures to provide for their families even if it means selling a kidney. The debate on legalizing the sale of organs has been going on for many years and ethical reasons are often quoted in opposition to such a scheme. Proponents argue that such a program could ease the huge shortfall in organs for donation.

TheSunDaily.com

LONDON : Britons are being asked if people should get cash incentives to donate eggs and sperm, and whether the funeral expenses of organ donors should be paid in a bid to address a severe shortage in supply.

Britain has one of the lowest rates of organ donation, at just 13 per million of population compared with 35 per million in Spain where a "presumed consent" system operates, which effectively make everyone a potential donor unless they choose to opt out.

The UK medical ethics think-tank the Nuffield Council on Bioethics has launched a public consultation to look at whether people think it is right that donors should receive payments or other incentives to meet a growing demand.

Currently paying people to donate most organs, beyond offering modest expenses, is currently illegal in Britain but a shortage has forced many to seek treatment overseas.

About 8,000 people need an organ transplant in Britain each year and hundreds die waiting for a suitable donor.

Professor Marilyn Strathern, chairman of the Council's inquiry into the issue, said: "We could try to increase the number of organ donors by providing stronger incentives, such as cash, paying funeral costs or priority for an organ in future, but would this be ethical?"

The Council said incentives could be non-financial, such as offering letters of thanks, T-shirts, mugs or vouchers, or allowing future donors to jump the queue for transplants should they later need one.

"We also need to think about the morality of pressing people to donate their bodily material," Strathern said.

"Offering payment or other incentives may encourage people to take risks or go against their beliefs in a way they would not have otherwise done."

In 2008, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he would not rule out bringing in a "presumed consent" scheme for organ donation.

However the Organ Donation Taskforce said that evidence from across the world indicated that such a scheme would not improve donation rates.

In January, a study by fertility experts found that a drastic lack of sperm donors meant women wanting babies were resorting to importing semen from abroad or using do-it-yourself insemination kits bought on the internet.
A change in the law in 2005 which removed donors' right to anonymity has led to a sharp fall in the number of donations.

Data from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) showed the number of patients receiving donor sperm fell from almost 9,000 in 1992 to about 2,000 in 2007.

The Council's consultation will run for three months and it will publish its findings towards the end of 2011.-- Reuters Life!

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Register to be an organ and tissue donor & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”
Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network. NEW for Ontario: recycleMe.org - Learn The Ins & Outs Of Organ And Tissue Donation. Register Today! For other Canadian provinces click here
In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov
In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register
In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register
Your generosity can save up to eight lives with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants (see allotransplantation). One tissue donor can help 75 to 100 other people by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves
Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant. Organs can save lives, corneas renew vision, and tissue may help to restore someone's ability to walk, run or move freely without pain. Life Begins with You

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Ex Vivo Lung Perfusion Renders Previously Unacceptable Lungs Usable

I've had the pleasure of visiting the labs in Toronto where this groundbreaking research is taking place and the results as described here offer great promise in having a global impact, with the potential to double the number of lungs available for transplant. Here is a video describing the EX Vivo Lung system:



By Caroline Helwick Medscape Pulmonary Medicine

April 28, 2010 (Chicago, Illinois) — Assessment and reconditioning of extended or initially rejected donor lungs using ex vivo lung perfusion (EVLP) is safe and leads to favorable outcomes after transplantation, according to results from the HELP trial — the largest clinical experience of EVLP to date — conducted at the University of Toronto in Ontario.

The trial results were presented here at the International Society for Heart & Lung Transplantation 30th Anniversary Meeting. The study employed the normothermic acellular Toronto XVIVO system (Vitrolife). "In the HELP trial, we aimed to determine the safety of transplanting initially rejected donor lungs after ex vivo re-assessment and reconditioning," said principal investigator Marcelo Cypel, MD, from the Toronto Lung Transplant Program of the University of Toronto, who presented the results.

The early outcomes of transplant after EVLP are at least equivalent to those using conventionally assessed and preserved donor lungs, said Dr. Cypel.

"Worldwide, only about 15% of donor lungs are accepted for transplantation. EVLP is a new technique that allows time to accurately assess the lung and to optimize function of injured donor lungs that would otherwise not be used," Dr. Cypel explained.

HELP was a prospective nonrandomized trial that included donor lungs that were considered unacceptable on the basis of current clinical criteria and that met study inclusion criteria. Donors were required to have a partial pressure of arterial oxygen to fraction of inspired oxygen (PaO2/FiO2) ratio of 300 mm Hg or less, or of more than 300 mm Hg with additional donor risk factors (multiple blood transfusions, pulmonary edema, donor cardiac death). Poor oxygenation or poor lung compliance was the primary reason for unsuitability.

The lungs were subjected to EVLP at 37 °C with Steen solution for 4 hours. The assessment of transplantability was made after examining lung function in the system. Organs with a partial pressure of oxygen (pO2)/FiO2 ratio of more than 400 mm Hg during EVLP were transplanted. The primary end point was a primary graft dysfunction (PGD) score of 2 to 3 within 72 hours of transplantation. Secondary end points were 30-day mortality, length of stay in the intensive care unit (ICU), length of stay in the hospital, length of intubation, proportional survival, and biomarkers in perfusate and lung tissue.

Between September 2008 and January 2009, there were 309 donors, and 129 lungs (41%) were used for 136 transplants. Of these, 25 were enrolled in the HELP trial and 22 went to transplant. These patients were compared with 114 conventionally treated control subjects. Of the 22 patients in the EVLP group, 19 had extended criteria — "no EVLP available and transplanted with concerns" — or were outright rejected.

Of the 25 lungs treated with EVLP, 22 improved sufficiently to be transplanted, and all functioned well after transplantation, the investigators reported.

Donor characteristics were similar between the HELP and control groups, except the HELP group had significantly more donors from cardiac deaths, and more patients with abnormal bronchoscopy, lower PaO2, and positive cultures. The donor score was also significantly higher in the HELP group (6 vs 4; P < .0001). Recipient demographics were similar between the groups.

The total preservation time (time to implantation) was 10 hours (range, 6 to 17 hours) for the EVLP group, after which a significant improvement in lung function was observed in the treated organs, Dr. Cypel reported.

In the majority of cases, PGD grade after EVLP was 0 to 1. "A few with good lung function after EVLP had PGD grade 3 upon ICU arrival, but this quickly improved to 0 or 1 within 24 hours," he said. PGD grade 2 was more common in the control group. More than 30% of these patients had PGD grade 2 at 24 hours, compared with 10% of the HELP group. By 72 hours, PGD grade 2 was observed in approximately 25% of the control group and 15% of the HELP group.

 "For recipient outcomes, we saw no significant differences between the HELP population and controls," Dr. Cypel reported. This included 30-day mortality, time to extubation, ICU and hospital length of stay, PaO2/FiO2 ratio upon ICU arrival, and need for extracorporeal mechanical oxygenation.

 Thirty-day mortality was 10.5% in the HELP group and 5.2% for other transplantations. No patients required extracorporeal mechanical oxygenation after EVLP, compared with 3.5% with conventional transplant. At 560 days posttransplant, survival was 80% for each group, he reported.

 "Our system was able to discriminate between the lungs that were acceptable, and therefore transplanted (n = 22), and those that were rejected (n = 3), Dr. Cypel noted. In general, the rejected lungs had lower gas exchange, higher pulmonary vascular resistance, and higher airway pressure. Interestingly, the rejected lungs also had higher levels of inflammatory cytokines, he said.

 "Using the inflammatory chip (Xceed), we are exploring the inflammatory gene profile before and after EVLP, trying to identify what these changes mean," he said. Dr. Cypel added that identification of biological predictors of donor lung quality during EVLP, perhaps through a genetic profile, would be helpful in the evolution of this technology.

Future May Be "Personalized" Organ Transplant

Dr. Cypel's presentation was followed by an invited lecture by Shaf Keshavjee, MD, the F.G. Pearson–R.J. Ginsberg Chair in Thoracic Surgery and director of the Toronto Lung Transplant Program. Dr. Keshavjee was involved in the HELP study, but he expanded upon the study's findings to provide a broader picture of EVLP.

He said that the concept of donor organ management is changing toward a paradigm that focuses on "regeneration, not death" of the organ. "The focus has been on slowing down death, rather than facilitating recovery and regeneration," Dr. Keshavjee said. "Currently, we only find out how the organ works after we implant it."

Currently, assessment of organ function is impossible at procurement, leading to the rejection of questionable organs that might be accepted in the setting of ex vivo evaluation. Going beyond assessment, ex vivo optimization of organs would increase the percentage of transplantable organs, with very few organs rejected in the end, Dr. Keshavjee explained.

"How do we get there? We need to develop a stable, reliable ex vivo maintenance perfusion technique and treatment platform," he said, "and develop a 'treatment arsenal' that is capable of injury-specific repair and immunological preparation for tolerance."

A number of questions remain with regard to organ-specific needs (heart, lung, liver) and approaches, mechanical and engineering factors, perfusate composition, and so forth. "Different resuscitation objectives will require different perfusion strategies," Dr. Keshavjee pointed out.

There are short-term issues, he added, such as thrombolysis and metabolic support, intermediate needs that might be addressed by gene therapy and immunomodulation, and long-term needs that call for regenerative medicine approaches. Functional repair of human donor lungs by interleukin-10 gene therapy has already been reported by the Toronto group, he noted (Sci Transl Med. 2009;1:4ra9).

The HELP study was funded by Vitrolife. Dr. Cypel has disclosed no relevant financial relationships. Dr. Keshavjee reports receiving grants and research support from Vitrolife and Astellas Canada, and holding the Chair in Transplantation Research, which is funded by Wyeth (Pfizer).

International Society for Heart & Lung Transplantation (ISHLT) 30th Anniversary Meeting: Abstract 258. April 23, 2010.

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Register to be an organ and tissue donor & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”
Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network. NEW for Ontario: recycleMe.org - Learn The Ins & Outs Of Organ And Tissue Donation. Register Today! For other Canadian provinces click here
In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov
In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register
In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register
Your generosity can save up to eight lives with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants (see allotransplantation). One tissue donor can help 75 to 100 other people by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves
Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant. Organs can save lives, corneas renew vision, and tissue may help to restore someone's ability to walk, run or move freely without pain. Life Begins with You

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Irish lung recipient to run in Belfast Marathon one year after transplant

I never cease to be impressed and in awe of how lives can be transformed by an organ transplant and here is another example of how organ donors can pass on life-changing opportunities to others who would not be alive today without their precious gift. Have you registered to be an organ and tissue donor? Links are at the bottom of this post. Thanks.

By Will Leitch BBC Reporter

A year ago, 23-year-old Ciaran Murphy from Newtownabbey just about managed to make it to the start of the Belfast marathon - in time to see everyone else set off. This year, after a life-saving operation, he is going to be running one of the relay legs himself.

Ciaran has cystic fibrosis - a common disease of the lung and digestive system.

But now he has had a double lung transplant and is in training for Monday's run.

Last year Ciaran was desperately ill, on 24-hour oxygen and waiting for a double lung transplant.

Ciaran started the runners in last year's Belfast City Marathon Fun Run alongside the Lord Mayor of Belfast and the very next day he got the call he had been waiting for - a new set of lungs was available.

He intends joining family and friends as part of a relay team.

"Thinking back to this time last year and watching my family and friends crossing the finish line, I thought I would never get the chance to do it myself," he said.

"Now, here I am nearly 12 months to the day later and getting ready to cross that finish line thanks to my new lungs.

"My story highlights the success of organ donation and how it's given me a new lease of life, this is my first step in putting these new lungs to full use.

"This is all down to that person or family donating their organs. I couldn't do this nor would I be here without someone making that decision to donate their organs after their death."

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Register to be an organ and tissue donor & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”
Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network. NEW for Ontario: recycleMe.org - Learn The Ins & Outs Of Organ And Tissue Donation. Register Today! For other Canadian provinces click here
In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov
In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register
In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register
Your generosity can save up to eight lives with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants (see allotransplantation). One tissue donor can help 75 to 100 other people by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves
Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant. Organs can save lives, corneas renew vision, and tissue may help to restore someone's ability to walk, run or move freely without pain. Life Begins with You

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

North Bay tops Ontario cities in the number of people who have completed their organ-donation registration

We really do have heart

By JENNIFER HAMILTON-MCCHARLES, THE North Bay NUGGET

Organ donation provides people with a chance to be a hero, even after they're gone said Sarah Johnson, a 21-year-old Golden Valley resident who underwent a heart transplant three years ago and is now completing her high school diploma.

Johnson is one of many people in the area to benefit from organ donation.

She hopes more people get a second chance at life.

North Bay tops Ontario cities in the number of people who have completed their organ-donation registration, according to news reports.

More than 34% of North Bay residents have registered their consent for organ and tissue donation, compared to only 4% in Toronto.

According to healthzone.ca a neighbourhood in the north part of North Bay has the highest rate in Ontario at 43%.

North Bay and District Hospital vice-president Tiz Silveri was surprised to see North Bay top the polls.

I'm not quite sure why," she said Monday.

The only things that I can think that would contribute to this is that we're a smaller community, we have more elderly residents and we don't have huge cultural differences."

Versha Prakash, vice-president of operations for the Trillium Gift of Life Network, said in the average Ontario city, 17% have signed donor registration cards.

She said donor registration is increasing, but numbers are far from where they need to be.

Last year we had 85 people die on our waiting list. We have to do better and commit to preventing needless deaths."

Prakash said the Trillium Gift of Life Network wants to drive donor registrations to rates like North Bay.

The majority of Ontarians support organ donation, but when it comes to giving consent it's 17%."

Prakash said the challenge for the organization is to find out how to create a sense of urgency.

She said information pamphlets will soon be included with health card renewal notices.

Johnson is also doing her part to spread the message.

She tells her story of hope to those who want to listen.

Johnson said life before the transplant was tough. Besides countless medical appointments and changes to her medication, she couldn't do simple day-today things.

Before I had the heart transplant I couldn't even wash my hair, because I couldn't lift my arms above my head," she said Monday.

Johnson was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy at the age of two.

According to the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, cardiomyopathy is a disease of the heart muscle. It damages the muscle tone of the heart and reduces its ability to pump blood to the rest of the body.

Blair Johnson, Sarah's father, said doctors told them by the time his daughter was five she would need a heart transplant and by the age of 12 she probably wouldn't be alive.

He said Sarah spent years trying different drugs hoping they would do the trick."

It was tough on all of us," Blair said.

Our family was fragmented. Sarah and her mother were in Toronto and I was back home looking after two children. I'm not saying our troubles were worse than others, but it was tough," he said.

At the age of 18, Sarah's need for a heart was critical.

She stayed in an intensive care unit at a Toronto hospital waiting for some good news.

The family was told their daughter may have to be put on an artificial pump to keep her alive until a heart became available.

But that didn't happen. When we heard that a heart was available I said 'thank you Lord' and then all I could do was to think about the family who said yes for this donation to happen," said Lynn Johnson, Sarah's mother.

Organ and tissue donation is the biggest gift of compassion anyone can give," she said.

This has opened my eyes so much. Even bone can be used to help someone whose leg has been crushed and avoid amputation."

Blair said he doesn't know where his daughter's new heart came from or the circumstances surrounding the gift.

According to the Trillium Gift of Life Network website, there are 1,621 people in Ontario waiting for an organ donation. Of those people, 1,175 are waiting for a kidney transplant.

The website also states that one donation can save up to eight lives and enhance as many as 75 more. Some of the donations include heart, liver, kidney, pancreas, lungs, small bowel, stomach, corneas, heart valves, bone and skin.

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Register to be an organ and tissue donor & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”
Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network. NEW for Ontario: recycleMe.org - Learn The Ins & Outs Of Organ And Tissue Donation. Register Today! For other Canadian provinces click here
In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov
In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register
In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register
Your generosity can save up to eight lives with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants (see allotransplantation). One tissue donor can help up to 100 other people by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves
Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant.

Monday, April 26, 2010

Niagara Falls illuminated in green in honor of organ and tissue donation

On April 23rd supporters from Canada and the United States met at 10pm in the middle of the Rainbow Bridge to exchange greetings and marvel at the majesty of Niagara Falls being illuminated in green to honor organ and tissue donation, donor families and transplant recipients. We wore green ponchos and held green glow sticks in honor of organ and tissue donation. Thanks to Trillium Gift of Life Network in Ontario, New York Alliance for Donation, Upstate New York Transplant Services and all of the other officials who combined to make this happen. I was proud to participate and some of the photos I shot can be viewed at my photo gallery: http://www.pbase.com/mshepp/niagara_falls_2010.

I shot this at 10pm from half-way across the Rainbow Bridge between the U.S,. and Canada. I was quite a distance from both the American and Canadian falls that are normally lit with a rainbow of colors but the green lights show clearly and draw attention to organ and tissue donation


“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Register to be an organ and tissue donor & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”
Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network. NEW for Ontario: recycleMe.org - Learn The Ins & Outs Of Organ And Tissue Donation. Register Today! For other Canadian provinces click here
In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov
In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register
In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register
Your generosity can save up to eight lives with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants (see allotransplantation). One tissue donor can help up to 100 other people by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves
Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant.

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Transplant quilt in La Ronge, Saskatchewan

One of my earliest experiences with promoting organ donation was shortly after my lung transplant when I joined a committee to to raise money for the hospital and viewed a beautiful quilt made entirely of squares donated by family members and friends in memory of their loved ones. The quilts are usually a work in progress with no deadline as there will always be other families who want to be included. There are hundreds of examples of quilts but I've selected the following quilt from the Midwest Transplant Network in the U.S. for it's easy to read view of each individual square. click here to view.

By Valerie G. Barnes-Connell The LaRonge Northerner

She was known as “the Butterfly Girl” and she loved yellow roses.

A square on the 20th Anniversary Saskatchewan Transplant Program Donor Memorial Quilt features a butterfly and a yellow rose in memory of Tenille Hounjet. Tenille died Sept. 20, 1999 from injuries sustained in an accident Sept. 19.

In the intervening hours between the accident and her death, with Tenille on life support, her family and friends grappled with a choice and decided to donate Tenille’s organs and tissue to the Saskatchewan Transplant Program, so that out of their tragedy other people were given hope.

Tenille’s mother, Wendy Dice, is sponsoring a tour of the quilt to La Ronge to raise awareness of the importance of organ donation.

The Quilt will be on display at the Conexus Credit Union April 26 and 27 (Monday and Tuesday), at the Jeannie Bird Clinic on April 28 and 29 (Wednesday and Thursday), the Java Shack on April 30 and May 1 (Friday and Saturday) and at the La Ronge Health Centre May 3 and 4 (Monday and Tuesday).


Families of people who donated organs and/or tissue to the Saskatchewan Transplant Program viewed the 20th Anniversary Donor Memorial Quilt during a celebration at St. Paul’s Hospital in Saskatoon Oct. 3, 2009.

The 20th Anniversary Donor Memorial Quilt square created in memory of Tenille Hounjet.


A speaker from the Saskatchewan Transplant Program will speak at the La Ronge Health Centre on Tues. May 4 at 7:30 p.m. Members of the public are invited to attend.

The quilt is accompanied by two binders containing tributes to the people whose organs and/or tissue has been donated to the program over the past 10 years.

Mildred Nichol, of the Saskatchewan Transplant Program, spoke with The Northerner about the program.

Although organ transplants have been done in the province since the 1960s, no formalized program was in place.

The Saskatchewan Transplant program was established in July 1989. In 1999 a 10-year anniversary quilt was created and “now we have the 20th Anniversary Quilt.

All families of donors were invited to submit a square for the quilt in memory of their family member. Families could also give permission to the quilt artist to design a square for their family member.

Many people said things like, “oh, she was such a breath of sunshine, could you put a sun on there? It was whatever the family wanted, something of signifi cance to their family member.”

A celebration was held in Saskatoon at St. Paul’s Hospital for family members. The quilt and two books containing a page about each of the donors could be viewed by families. There was also a candlelight service, where families were invited to light a candle and name their family member. The event ended with a memorial lunch.

The family of each donor was presented with a Gift of Life bronze medallion, which was embossed with a wheat sheaf and ribbon.

“The green ribbon is for organ and/or tissue donation awareness.” The Quilt has been on the road most of the time since Oct. 3.

“Someone took the quilt home that day (Oct. 3) so they could have it in their local community.” The binder contains a picture of the quilt square, a picture and a biography of each donor.

“The whole point of this is to honour the donors and their families and, of course, to promote organ and/or tissue donations so that other families will make that decision when their family member dies.”

Organs, which can be donated, include: heart, liver, kidneys, lungs, pancreas and small bowel.

Tissues include cornea, bone, tendons, ligaments and the heart for valves.

The cornea is the outer, clear part of the lining of the eye. “Sometimes people have eye disease that affects the cornea. Then they can receive sight from a tissue donation. Sometimes we can’t use the whole heart for a transplant, but we might still be able to use the valves for valve replacement. That’s especially important for children because if you use human valve tissue, then children don’t have to be on blood thinners.”

Dice said it’s important to talk to family members and make them aware of the importance of organ donation and to discuss choices with family members.

“When you are in that position and somebody is pronounced brain dead, it’s a test of faith, because how do you know – doctors make mistakes and you want to hope.”

She also voiced concern for people in the north. “I didn’t realize … so many people up here are just waiting. They have to travel for dialysis.”

Information from the Saskatchewan Transplant Program shows 435 people in Saskatchewan are living a kidney transplant, 22 people in Saskatchewan received a kidney transplant in 2009 and 109 are waiting for a kidney transplant in Saskatchewan. Ten other transplants were done on Saskatchewan residents in 2009.

Dice also wants to warn people about the importance of wearing, and ensuring children are wearing seat belts while travelling in vehicles.

“So many people let their kids lie down and they shouldn’t do that. Tenille took her seat belt off to sleep and didn’t live to tell about it.”

She also reminds people to stop and rest rather than driving tired.

Saskatchewan residents, 18-years and older, can attach an organ and tissue donor sticker to their Saskatchewan Health Card . Anyone under 18 requires the consult of an adult to consent to be eligible as an organ and/or tissue donor.

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Register to be an organ and tissue donor & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”
Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network. NEW for Ontario: recycleMe.org - Learn The Ins & Outs Of Organ And Tissue Donation. Register Today! For other Canadian provinces click here
In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov
In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register
In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register
Your generosity can save up to eight lives with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants (see allotransplantation). One tissue donor can help up to 100 other people by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves
Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant.

Friday, April 23, 2010

Niagara Falls illuminated in green in honor of organ and tissue donation

I'm off to Niagara Falls today along with other supporters of organ and tissue donation, including donor families and transplant recipients. The Falls will be illuminated in green from 9 p.m. to 9:15 p.m. and again at 10 p.m. until 10:15 p.m.

At 10:00 p.m., to coincide with the second illumination of the falls, Canadian and American participants will form a symbolic living green ribbon across the Rainbow Bridge. Participants will be wearing green ponchos and holding green glow sticks in honor of organ and tissue donation. Thanks to Trillium Gift of Life Network in Ontario, New York Alliance for Donation, Upstate New York Transplant Services and all of the other officials who combined to make this happen.

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Register to be an organ and tissue donor & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”
Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network. NEW for Ontario: recycleMe.org - Learn The Ins & Outs Of Organ And Tissue Donation. Register Today! For other Canadian provinces click here
In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov
In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register
In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register
Your generosity can save up to eight lives with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants (see allotransplantation). One tissue donor can help up to 100 other people by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves
Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Using Gene Therapy to Repair Damaged Lungs May Improve Viability and Availability of Donor Organs

The new technique described here could expand the number of donor lungs by using organs that are currently discarded, and improve outcomes after transplantation. I've done several posts on this in the past and the University Health Network's press release gives a more detailed overview with photos and video links. Dr. Keshavjee is the surgeon that performed my lung transplant back in 2002 and it's been my great privilege to see first hand the amazing research that's being done at Toronto General Hospital and University Health Network in Toronto.

Research Presented at ISHLT Meeting Shows Promise to Improve Outlook for Lung Transplant Patients

ADDISON, Texas, April 21 - /PRNewswire/ -- Promising research brings hope for the almost two thousand lung transplant candidates who currently make up The United Network for Organ Sharing's (UNOS) wait list. A new technique that uses gene therapy to help repair damaged lungs previously found unfit for transplant shows promise for addressing the critical shortage of healthy donor organs. Recent research on IL-10 Gene Therapy will be presented in today's symposium Getting to Yes – Increasing Lung Donors during the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation's (ISHLT) 30th Annual Meeting and Scientific Sessions in Chicago.

More than 80 percent of potential donor lungs cannot be used for transplantation because the organs are damaged either before or during the transplant process. The IL-10 Gene Therapy could potentially increase the viability of those donor lungs.

Interleukin10 (IL-10) is an anti-inflammatory cytokine. This protein down-regulates, or decreases, the inflammatory potential of injured cells. It also has the capacity to suppress the recipient's immune system that rejects the transplanted organ. The IL-10 gene is found normally in animal and human cells and plays a role in inhibiting the immune response to infection and the rejection response to foreign materials such as transplanted organs.

"This type of therapy could ultimately have a great impact on lung transplantation around the world," said Dr. Shaf Keshavjee, MD, University of Toronto, Canada, who will present at today's ISHLT symposium.

Dr. Keshavjee and his team of researchers have focused on IL-10 because the protein protects against inflammatory injury as well as immune therapy. This new approach has successfully reduced inflammation and improved function in pig lungs that were treated outside the body and transplanted into recipient pigs. The same approach has brought about a similar improvement in human donor lungs deemed unsuitable for transplantation.

"Although more work is needed before lungs treated with IL-10 therapy can be transplanted into human recipients," continued Dr. Keshavjee. "The data suggest that this gene repair strategy could increase the number of usable donor organs."

This genetic technique could also be used to deliver other gene products to the lungs and might eventually be used to repair damaged lungs in a living patient.

About ISHLT

The International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation (ISHLT) is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of the science and treatment of end-stage heart and lung diseases. Created in 1981, the Society now includes more than 2,200 members from 45-plus countries, representing a variety of disciplines involved in the management and treatment of end-stage heart and lung disease. For more information, visit http://www.ishlt.org.

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Register to be an organ and tissue donor & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”
Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network. NEW for Ontario: recycleMe.org - Learn The Ins & Outs Of Organ And Tissue Donation. Register Today! For other Canadian provinces click here
In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov
In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register
In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register
Your generosity can save up to eight lives with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants (see allotransplantation). One tissue donor can help up to 100 other people by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves
Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Lung transplant gives man ‘new lease on life’

Like Lynn Gardner I developed idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and by the spring of 2002 I was in bad shape with no hope for the future. My lungs had deteriorated so badly that I couldn't even bend over to tie my shoes and didn't have the strength to plug a cord into the wall. But even when life seems darkest some of us were lucky enough to have a benevolent donor family make the courageous decision to donate their loved one's organs so that we could go on to live long and productive lives with a "second chance". That's why it's so important to talk to you family about your desire to be an organ donor so that they will know you wishes. If you have not already done so, please register to be an organ and tissue donor. The links are at the end of this post. Thank you.

By Emily Younker
The Joplin Globe

CARL JUNCTION, Mo.- — When Lynn Gardner was diagnosed 10 years ago with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis — a fatal disease that causes scarring of the lungs — he was told he had three years to live.

His best, and perhaps only option, for survival was to receive new lungs, his doctors told him.

“When it came right down to it, it was either get the transplant or die,” Gardner said. “I probably would have died in 2004 if I hadn’t gotten that.”

Gardner received a double-lung transplant in 2004 and has since defied all life expectancies given to him by doctors. He was scheduled to speak Tuesday at the Celebration of Life service honoring organ and tissue donors and recipients at St. John’s Regional Medical Center.

Although the transplant and the days immediately afterward are fuzzy in Gardner’s memory, he clearly remembers the months leading up to it. His health was rapidly declining because of the disease.

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis is the scarring or thickening of the lungs, which leads to decreased oxygen flow to vital organs, according to the National Institutes of Health. The disease has no known cause or cure.

The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, a division of the National Institutes of Health, reports that approximately 200,000 Americans have idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. About 50,000 new cases are diagnosed each year, primarily in people who are older than 50 years, according to the institute.

Even with his diagnosis, Gardner continued teaching classes at Ozark Christian College, and though his colleagues tried to make it a comfortable experience, it was strenuous.

“I coughed a lot, and I couldn’t do stairs, so they made sure my classroom was in the same building my office was,” he said. “I couldn’t stand for 50 minutes, so they provided chairs. ... The school was really good to me.”

‘He was so weak’

In April 2004, the Gardners moved temporarily to St. Louis to be closer to Barnes Jewish Hospital, where the transplant would occur, and to wait for a match. It was a rough time for Gardner and his wife, Barbara.

“Just before the transplant, I didn’t know if he was going to make it until the call came because he was so weak,” she said.

That call — alerting Gardner of a match — came in June, just two months after the Gardners had arrived in St. Louis.

“Our daughter had asked what I wanted for Father’s Day, and I said, ‘New lungs,’” Gardner recalled. “That night, about 12:30, we got the call.”

On June 15, 2004, Gardner received a double-lung transplant, and the couple moved back to their home in Carl Junction in October of that year.

Gardner said the first year after his transplant was difficult. He went back to St. Louis at least 10 times for several hospitalizations, minor rejections of the lungs and one surgery.

‘I have young, healthy lungs’

At his one-year anniversary, he wrote a thank-you letter to the donor’s family, though he doesn’t know who his donor was.

“All they told me was I have young, healthy lungs,” he said. “If the family wanted me to know (who the donor was), they’d let me know.”

The next several years were smoother for Gardner. He retired from Ozark Christian College in 2006 to focus more on his writing. A director of College Press Publishing Co. since 1981, Gardner has written six books and has a new book — tentatively titled “Commending and Defending Christian Faith: An Introduction to Christian Apologetics” — due this fall. His next projects include helping a friend write a book and writing two articles for “The Lookout” magazine.

“Certainly, in my head, there are a lot of other books and articles I want to write,” Gardner said.

Gardner also has focused on spending more time with his four grandchildren, Dane and Luke, both 13, and Hope and Mark, both 10. Last summer, he and his wife took each of them on a one-day outing suited to the individual child’s interests.

“I am so thankful to see my grandchildren grow up these years, and the time with Barbara has been great,” he said.

Anniversaries

Gardner now marks his life by anniversaries. He celebrated the 5-year anniversary of receiving his lungs last June, at which time he went to St. Louis for his 5-year checkup and took his wife to their favorite Italian restaurant. In February 2011, the Gardners will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary, an event that Gardner once doubted he would live to see.

But first on Gardner’s agenda is Tuesday’s Celebration of Life service, an event held by St. John’s Regional Medical Center, Freeman Health System, the Midwest Transplant Network and the Heartland Lions Eye Bank.

Cathy Lucchi, hospital services coordinator for Midwest Transplant Network, said the event has three purposes — to remember the lives of organ and tissue donors, to honor transplant recipients and to remember the approximately 106,000 people who are currently on a waiting list for an organ or tissue transplant.

Name added every 10 minutes

A name is added to that list every 10 minutes, Lucchi said, and 18 people will die each day while waiting for a transplant.

There are 2,000 people in Missouri and 1,000 in Kansas awaiting a transplant, according to Midwest Transplant Network, an organ and tissue procurement organization serving Kansas and western Missouri.

Lucchi said the service will also include a ceremony during which a tree — likely a dogwood or a redbud — will be planted on St. John’s property in honor of organ and tissue donors. Donors’ families will receive dogwood or redbud seedlings in their memory, she said.

Nearly six years after his transplant, Gardner said he still has “a few things to deal with,” including taking more than 20 pills each day to fight off infection or rejection, and attending rehabilitation sessions at St. John’s Regional Medical Center three times per week.

“But I’m not going to worry about those things,” he said. “I’m going to go ahead and live. I feel like I’ve got a new lease on life.”

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Register to be an organ and tissue donor & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”
Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network. NEW for Ontario: recycleMe.org - Learn The Ins & Outs Of Organ And Tissue Donation. Register Today! For other Canadian provinces click here
In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov
In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register
In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register
Your generosity can save up to eight lives with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants (see allotransplantation). One tissue donor can help up to 100 other people by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves
Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Today is my anniversary - 8 years post lung transplant

That's me in the ICU  just 3 days following my surgery on April 20, 2002. I can remember thinking about how I was going to "give back" but my body wasn't ready to respond just yet. (click image for larger photo)


And here I am 3 years later speaking to a Kiwanis Club meeting about organ and tissue donation. (click photo for larger image)


Last week I had the eight-year assessment of my lung transplant at Toronto General Hospital. I will be forever grateful and thankful to all those who made it possible for me to have a second chance at life. I was in end stage repiratory failure due to idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis with little hope for the future. I say silent thanks each day for my donor and donor family, for my surgeon Dr. Shaf Keshavjee, Dr. Lianne Singer and the entire lung transplant team and staff at Toronto General who were so wonderful to me. I'm also very thankful to the staff of Trillium Gift of Life Network in Ontario for promoting organ donation and coordinating with critical care staff and donor families in our hospitals.

Since my transplant, in addition to maintaining this blog, I have been an advocate for organ donation awareness and fund raising for lung transplant research at Toronto General Hospital. Most of my activities are recorded in a photo journal at http://www.pbase.com/mshepp. I'm also on the Provincial Volunteer Committee for Trillium Gift of Life Network in Ontario.

My assessment went well and I can honestly say that life is better than I can remember it ever being. My health is great, my weight is perfect and I have more friends now than I could have ever imagined. When they say that an organ transplant is life-transforming there's no question about it, at least in my case.

I'm extremely happy to be alive even, considering that I was near death before my transplant and so incapacitated that I couldn't even bend over to tie my own shoes. And that was while I was on oxygen 24/7. Isn't life wonderful?

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Sign Your Donor Card & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”
Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network
For other Canadian provinces click here
In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov
In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register
In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register
Your generosity can save up to eight lives with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants. One tissue donor can help up to 100 other people by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves

Monday, April 19, 2010

Dr. Heather Ross and heart transplant recipient Dale Shippam reach the North Pole

This is a story about a heart transplant recipient who at the age of 58 can climb mountains and ski to the north pole. I am privileged to know Dale Shippam and have met Dr. Ross several times. They are an inspiration to all of us in the transplant community and a wonderful example of how lives can be transformed by an organ transplant. This is Donate Life Month in the U.S. and Organ & Tissue Donation Awareness Week in Ontario and we are reminded that by donating our organs and tissues we are not only saving lives but giving the recipients a chance to live exceptional lives by testing their limits and achieving dreams they could only previously wish for .

Read Dr. Ross' blog at: http://testyourlimits2010.blogspot.com/ where she gives a day-by-day account of the adventure with photos. Also read her previous posts about a trip with Dale and others to Nepal and the Himalayas in 2008 to climb Mera Peak. Also, visit Dr. Ross' web page. Dr. Ross is to be congratulated for her dedication to her patients and the inspiration and motivation she instills in them to raise the bar and live life to the fullest.


Dr. Heather Ross, director of the heart transplant program at Toronto General Hospital, hugs heart transplant recipient Dale Shippam, a 58-year-old firefighter from Thunder Bay, Ontario. The five-member team reached the North Pole after 11 days of skiing over ice , snow drifts, across open water and through fierce winds to raise awareness about organ donation and to show everyone that transplant patients can lead healthy and active lives.

Newswise — They made it! In what is believed to be a world-first, a heart transplant patient along with his transplant doctor skied over 100 miles, over ice, snow drifts, across open water, through gale-force winds and freezing temperatures to make it to the North Pole early Thursday morning.

The intrepid pair, along with three other adventurous souls, took 11 days to reach the northernmost point of the globe. The pair set out on this journey to raise awareness about the importance of organ donation, and to show everyone that transplant patients can lead healthy lives and contribute to society.

In her daily blog, Dr. Heather Ross, director of the heart transplant program at Toronto General Hospital, University Health Network, describes what it was like to wait out a storm, stuck on the ice, so they could finish their trek.

“ …For me, the unknown was a touch terrifying. It made me realize how incredibly small and vulnerable we were in a 6 x 8 foot tent, -20 wind chill to nearly -40, with winds greater than 25 miles per hour. Dale reminded both Michel and I that this is what it feels like day in, day out, for someone waiting for a transplant. No control over events, vulnerable, waiting – it put a whole new perspective on things. My admiration and respect for transplant recipients and those waiting continues to grow,” writes Dr. Ross.

Dr. Ross and heart transplant patient Dale Shippam, a 58-year-old firefighter from Thunder Bay, were part of a campaign called Test Your Limits, which so far has raised more than $300,000 for heart disease research. Dale received a heart transplant in 1999 after his heart was damaged by a viral infection. For further details, please go to: www.testyourlimits.ca

The team was made up of five members: Dale, Dr. Ross, two guides and Dr. Michael White, director of the heart failure research program at the Montreal Heart Institute. On April 4, the team reached the Russian ice station Borneo. From there a helicopter flew them to their starting point where “all if a sudden, we were completely alone…..felt like I was on the moon.”.

From her blog, Dr. Ross writes that, “Now we are at 89 degrees 4.1 minutes - so we skied for three hours and covered only four miles - over typical terrain. Gives you an idea what we have to do to cover 60 miles to pole, let alone drift and obstacles, open water.....wind howling as we set camp…”

During the trip, Dr. Ross writes about how well Dale held up under the stresses of such a difficult journey. “Dale, as always, never creases to amaze me with what he is capable of. Eleven years post-transplant, pulling his weight (with 36kg of gear(about 80 pounds), one step after another pushing the boundaries and representing transplant in the best possible way.”

About Toronto General Hospital, University Health Network

Toronto General Hospital is a partner in the University Health Network, along with the Toronto Western Hospital and the Princess Margaret Hospital. These teaching hospitals are affiliated with the University of Toronto. Toronto General Hospital is a national and international source for research, education and patient care, and is recognized internationally for its innovations in transplantation, surgical innovation, infectious diseases, diabetes and genomic medicine. The multiorgan transplant program is the largest in Canada, performing about 450 transplants a year. It is renowned worldwide for its innovation and comprehensiveness in treating patients with severe and complex end-stage organ diseases.

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Register to be an organ and tissue donor & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”
Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network. NEW for Ontario: recycleMe.org - Learn The Ins & Outs Of Organ And Tissue Donation. Register Today! For other Canadian provinces click here
In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov
In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register
In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register
Your generosity can save up to eight lives with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants (see allotransplantation). One tissue donor can help up to 100 other people by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves
Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant.

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Southern California's Largest Event to Inspire Organ and Tissue Donation

April is Donate Life Month across America and there are hundreds of events planned in an effort to increase the rate of organ and tissue donation and Southern California is taking a leading role with some very ambitious initiatives, as the press release below details.

As of today there were 107,042 waiting list candidates in the U.S. with the largest majority being for kidney transplants with 84,455 waiting for their gift of life. 18 people die each day in the U.S. waiting for an organ or tissue transplant. For a complete listing of all transplant candidates go to OPTN waiting list candidates.

More than 7,000 Expected at Eighth Annual Donate Life Run/Walk
Slated for May 1 at Cal State Fullerton;
7am to 1pm

LOS ANGELES, Calif., More than 7,000 people from across Southern California will join on Sat., May 1, from 7am to 1pm for the Donate Life Run/Walk at Cal State Fullerton. Now in its eighth year, the event inspires Californians to donate life by becoming organ, eye and tissue donors. Each year, the Donate Life Run/Walk serves to culminate DMV/Donate Life California Month with a broad spectrum of support from dozens of local mayors, major businesses, and broadcast media, including seven radio stations and local news anchor Phillip Palmer, a living kidney donor.

The family festival atmosphere includes a special performance by Grammy award-winning pop/R&B group All-4-One, whose latest CD includes a song inspired in part by the founders of the Donate Life Run/Walk, Kathleen and Craig Hostert. The Fullerton couple became active participants in promoting organ donation when Kathleen donated her kidney to Craig more than 11 years ago. The Hosterts now work professionally in the field of organ and tissue donation.

Among the event’s sponsors are Moss Adams LLP, the 11th-largest accounting and consulting firm in the U.S., which has made a multi-year commitment to the event; W.L. Butler Construction, Inc., recently held a dinner to educate and inspire their employees and clients, raising nearly $17,000; Vons, whose store manager Keith Walton became a donor following a massive stroke at age 42; and St. Joseph Hospital of Orange, a longtime supporter and transplant center.

A number of radio stations are playing a major role in support of the Donate Life Run/Walk, including94.7 The Wave, 97.1 AMP Radio, 93.1 Jack FM, KROQ 106.7 FM, K-EARTH 101, KFWB News Talk 980, KNX 1070, and KJLH 102.3 FM. These stations are also playing radio spots featuring ten Southland Donate Life Ambassador volunteers, each of whom is either a donor family member or a recipient of a life-saving organ or tissue.

“Events like the Donate Life Run/Walk serve to galvanize our community to affirm life by inspiring Californians to sign up on the Donate Life California Organ & Tissue Donor Registry,” noted Tom Mone, chief executive officer and executive vice president of OneLegacy, the non-profit organ and tissue recovery organization serving the greater Los Angeles area and the largest such agency in the country. “The need for donors is disproportionate in California, which has more than 20,000 people awaiting life-saving organ transplants. Although our registry is the largest in the country, our 6.4 million registered donors only represent a quarter of those who have had the opportunity to enroll at the DMV. The seconds it takes to check ‘yes’ when renewing your driver’s license or ID card, or just the few minutes to sign up online, could mean a lifetime for someone in need.”

A new element is being introduced this year with the “Flame of Life” that represents the three elements of donation: the donor, the recipient, and the transplant candidate on the waiting list. The Flame of Life, which will debut the week prior to the event at St. Joseph Hospital of Orange, is symbolic of the act of donation and is intended to both honor the memories of donors and inspire others to donate life.

More than 3,000 people are participating in one of 155 teams honoring donors who gave life in their passing. Among the largest donor family teams are:
  • Celebrating Scott 2010 (Huntington Beach) – More than 230 people honor former Mater Dei student and donor Scott Davis;
  • ·
  • Team Eric (Chino Hills) – Nearly 90 people honor 37-year-old donor Eric Acosta;
  • ·
  • Team Roc Star (San Bernardino) – Honors 19-year-old donor Vincent Atkins;
  • ·
  • Team Tiffany (Murrieta) – Honors 14-year-old donor Tiffany Breslin, whose death in a jet ski accident was widely reported;
  • ·
  • Team J.A.M (Anaheim) – Honors seven-year-old donor Tony Martinez; and
  • ·
  • Team Eddie (Wilmington) – Honors the donor brother of OneLegacy’s Family Services staff member Ana Arellano

The morning-long event, which starts with an opening ceremony at 8:15 a.m., also features a “Circle of Life Garden” with more than 100 photograph-bearing signs honoring donors and recipients. Before runners and walkers begin, eight baskets of doves will be opened in memory of loved ones, including the Virginia family of three-month-old Katie Field and the family of Linda de Beaumont, a longtime Orange County Donate Life Ambassador and two-time heart recipient who passed away this year.

Registration fees for Donate Life Run/Walk participants are $30 for runners and walkers, $20 per living donor or recipient, $20 per person for families of four or more, and $20 per person for teams of 10 or more. There is no charge to attend the post-walk Family Festival. More information is available at www.donateliferunwalk.org.

OneLegacy is the non-profit organization dedicated to saving lives through organ and tissue donation in the seven-county greater Los Angeles area. With 200 hospitals, 12 transplant centers and a diverse population of 19 million, OneLegacy is the largest of the 58 federally designated organ recovery organizations in the U.S. The agency is also the world’s largest tissue recovery organization.

Those wishing to make the commitment to donate may register online at www.donateLIFEcalifornia.org or its Spanish-language counterpart, www.doneVIDAcalifornia.org. For more information, call OneLegacy at (800) 786-4077 or visit www.onelegacy.org.

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Register to be an organ and tissue donor & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”
Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network. NEW for Ontario: recycleMe.org - Learn The Ins & Outs Of Organ And Tissue Donation. Register Today! For other Canadian provinces click here
In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov
In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register
In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register
Your generosity can save up to eight lives with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants (see allotransplantation). One tissue donor can help up to 100 other people by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves
Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant.

Friday, April 16, 2010

Save a life by donating your organs

houmatoday.com
It is difficult to imagine a more touching scene.

Ramone Castle, 27, of New Orleans appeared with Cynthia Reed of Larose at Terrebonne General Medical Center in Houma in honor of the Donate Life Louisiana Hospital Campaign.

The two, who were strangers a few months ago, are now forever linked. Castle has regained much of his life because of a liver he received from Reed’s son. When Justin Doucet fatally wounded himself in May at Larose-Cut Off Middle, his parents donated his organs, which went on to save the lives of five people.

It is at once a tragic and uplifting tale. Doucet tragically ended his own life but his parents allowed many to benefit from his organs after his life had ended.

“It helped me to see things a lot clearer,” Castle said. “Money, success — once I was put on bed rest for six months, I realized those things didn’t matter as much as I’d once thought. Getting your health back, along with freedom and independence, are what really matters.”

We should all be as generous as Doucet’s parents, and we can be.

April is National Donate Life Month, and the Louisiana Organ Procurement Agency is using the month to spotlight its effort to sign up new organ donors.

That might seem like a large number, but it is really about awareness more than sacrifice. As such, we can each do part of the job in spreading the word and getting more people to agree to donate their organs at death.

Besides, there are more-daunting numbers.

In the U.S., there are 100,000 waiting for organ transplants that they need to live. Just in Louisiana, there are 1,800 of them. And, most tragically, an average of 18 people die each day while on the waiting list for transplants.

Each of those numbers is far too high.

Organ donation can be a last, great gesture of giving, a way to make even our last breaths productive to those around us.

However, it is a difficult discussion that asks us to contemplate unpleasant matters — a fact that explains why so few of us have agreed to donate.

There really is nothing to lose by signing up to give, and you could be responsible for numerous lives saved.

If you are interested in agreeing to become a donor, go to www.donatelivela.org to register for the program or just to get more information.

You will almost certainly be glad you did it, and you could one day be responsible for a person or multiple people enjoying much more of their lives.

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Register to be an organ and tissue donor & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”
Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network. NEW for Ontario: recycleMe.org - Learn The Ins & Outs Of Organ And Tissue Donation. Register Today! For other Canadian provinces click here
In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov
In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register
In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register
Your generosity can save up to eight lives with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants (see allotransplantation). One tissue donor can help up to 100 other people by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves
Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Double-lung transplant gives UK woman new hope for the future

Rachel Wakefield received 10-hour double lung transplant

by: Geraint Jones North Wales Chrnoicle
A YOUNG woman is on the road to recovery after undergoing a lifesaving operation.

Rachael Wakefield, who spent much of her childhood on Anglesey, is recovering in intensive care after a ten-hour double lung transplant.

Her mother Lynne said that the 22-year-old was overjoyed to have a chance of a happy future.

“Rachel still can’t believe it and she’s got a smile on her face all the time. Time was running out for her and we didn’t know how much longer she had,” she said.

Rachael was diagnosed with Interstitial lung disease (ILD) at the age of 15 after suffering from pneumonia.

The disease affects the lung tissue, causing fibrosis (permanent scarring) which means that oxygen cannot enter the blood stream effectively.

Symptoms include low oxygen levels, breathlessness, restricted mobility, a dry, harsh cough, chest pain and severe headaches.

Rachel’s relatives on Anglesey held car boot sales across island to help raise funds to send Rachael for a transplant in America.

The fund raised £30,000 and was donated to five charities, including Wales Air Ambulance, after Rachael was put on the NHS transplant list in September.

Rachael’s family on the Island went to support her when she underwent the transplant at Wythenshawe Hospital in Manchester on March 10.

Her aunt Karen Davies, of Amlwch, added: “Lot’s of people on the island check Rachael’s updates on her Facebook page and I’m always get asked about how she’s doing.”

Doctors expect that Rachael, of Dukinfield, near Manchester, will make full recovery and that she will be out of intensive care within a month.

Mrs Wakefield says that Rachel has high hopes for a future career in medicine once she has recovered from the operation.

“Rachel’s thinking about what she’s going to do, as she has never been able to work before. She wants to do something medical, maybe a psychologist or pharmacist,” she said.

She added: “I would like to thank everyone on Anglesey who donated money and sent cards - we really do appreciate it.”

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Register to be an organ and tissue donor & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”
Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network. NEW for Ontario: recycleMe.org - Learn The Ins & Outs Of Organ And Tissue Donation. Register Today! For other Canadian provinces click here
In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov
In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register
In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register
Your generosity can save up to eight lives with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants. One tissue donor can help up to 100 other people by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves
Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

U.K. liver transplant man's plea to others re organ donor registry blunders

By Peter Walsh Norwich Evening News April 13, 2010

A man whose life was saved by a liver transplant has today urged people not to be put off donating by a huge data blunder affecting Britain's donor register which meant, in some cases, organs were removed without consent.

The records of 800,000 people were affected by an error, which meant their wishes about the use of their organs after death were wrongly recorded.

An investigation has found that 45 of those for whom wrong records were stored have since died - and in about 20 cases organs were taken where consent had not been given. Those families are to be contacted by the NHS.

But today Matt Hastings, 29, from Lingwood, near Brundall, has told how he hopes the blunder will not put people off making the life-saving decision to add their name to the register.

Mr Hastings, who was just a month away from death when he received a liver transplant in 2005, said: “I really hope it doesn't affect it because if it does, more people are going to die unnecessarily, which is what we don't want.

“It's very unfortunate that this error has occurred, but the thing is people's lives would've been saved. There are 1,000 people dying every single year just because there's no organ going to come.

“I've had two liver transplants and I'm very lucky to be in this situation. If I wasn't given an organ, I wouldn't be here and wouldn't be able to get married or have children, which I'm now able to do.”

Mr Hastings, who is getting married to his fiancée Victoria Bean in July, was diagnosed with Auto Immune Hepatitis, meaning an inflamed liver, while a student at Caister High School.

He had his first transplant just before his 18th birthday in 1999, but his body rejected it. In March 2005 he had a second transplant and was in surgery for 11 hours and intensive care for five days after undergoing the operation.

Since the operation, the former Norwich City College student, who runs his own online gifts company Wow Gifts from his home, has been fit and well and hopes, despite news of the organ donor register blunder, that there will be more people like him.

He said: “Having to wait for someone to die for you to survive is something hard to cope with. I was a month from death and if that organ didn't come, I wouldn't be here.”

Health Secretary Andy Burnham said he “deeply regretted” the distress caused to bereaved families of people whose organs were removed without consent - and moved to assure the millions of people on the register that their wishes would be respected.

Many donors have strong views about what can be taken. Often consent is not given for eyes to be removed, or bodies to be used in medical research. But the distinctions were accidentally deleted in 1999, when details held by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency - which includes a request for consent in applications for a driving licence - were transferred to the organ registry.

A spokeswoman for NHS Blood and Transplant said: “We are taking it very seriously and are urgently investigating the situation. Our priority is in ensuring that the families of those who may have been affected are contacted.”

Mr Hastings has set up a charity and website to help fellow sufferers of the condition. For more details log on to http://www.auto immunehepatitis.co.uk.

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