Organ donations 'a true gift'


Grand Forks Herald | Pamela Knudson

“Once you and your family are in a position of need, your perspective change,” said Robin Brosseau of Drayton, N.D., who received a heart on July 15 at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. Submitted photo

In this season of giving, three area women say they’ve received the greatest gift of all â€" life through organ donation.

They know the decision by the donors’ families to give an organ was made in the midst of sorrow, and perhaps shock, at the loss of a loved one.

They want others to understand what this gift means, and to consider becoming organ, eye and tissue donors.

Older people can be donors too, said Sally Jacobson, Grand Forks, an active volunteer for LifeSource, a regional division of the United Network for Organ Sharing which coordinates the nation’s organ transplant system.

She underwent a liver transplant in 2006 at age 61.

“We’ve had donors who were 92 years old,” she said. “I say, let the medical professionals make the decision” about the viability of the organ.

She emphasizes the need for donors to share their wishes with their families.

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