Letter: Inform next-of-kin about wish to donate organs for transplant

Corvallis Gazette Times
Like Matt Fehrenbacher, I read the Christmas story of Kurt Robinson’s lung transplant with joy and pain.

I am happy for Mr. Robinson and his family, and know they treasure this gift. I also send my condolences to the Fehrenbachers on their terrible loss.

I urge all who read this to become an organ donor. (See http://www.donatelifenw.org for information.)

Only one of every 200 hospital deaths is a “brain death,” and only half of those are suitable for donation. Otherwise healthy individuals who are declared brain dead are victims of sudden, catastrophic events.

At such times, confused and grieving relatives sometimes refuse organ donation. If you want to help, make your wishes known!

My youngest sister was a cancer survivor who needed a double lung transplant due to a radiation accident early in her treatment. Her name was on the waiting list for 14 months.During that time, her lungs continued to deteriorate.

Becky got her transplant, but her rib cage had collapsed, so that surgeons were able to fit only the right lung into the chest cavity. The transplanted lung functioned perfectly with no rejection episodes; it gave her six years of life she wouldn’t have had otherwise.

But her left lung was prone to infections, and she had life-threatening bouts of pneumonia.

Eventually a fungal infection set in, spread to the transplanted lung, and she died at age 41.

Had the surgeons been able to transplant both lungs sooner, she might have lived much longer and had a much better quality of life.

Barbara Gordon, Philomath

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