118,000 on transplant waiting list; extreme organ shortage
KPLC TV | Britney Glaser
18 people die each day waiting for transplants that cannot take place because of the shortage of donated organs. A nationally publicized legal battle this week over a Pennsylvania girl's lung transplant sparked a new debate over the waiting list and donation process.
10-year-old Sarah Murnaghan's family won the legal battle victory to add her name to the list for an adult lung after 18 months of waiting, with cystic fibrosis destroying her lungs. "It was a direct result of the ruling that allowed her to be put on the adult list," said Sarah's aunt, Sharon Ruddock. "It was not pediatric lungs, she would've never have gotten these lungs otherwise."
The organization that oversees national transplant policies has approved a one year change to make children under the age of 12 eligible to be put on the adult lung transplant list. That policy change is in effect until July 2014, then it will be reevaluated.
On Wednesday, adult lungs were flown in from Detroit and delivered to Sarah. "They were able to resize the adult lungs without any issue," said Ruddock, "it was a perfect fit into Sarah."
Sarah represented just one of the 118,000 on the organ transplant waiting list. Suzanna Morton with the Louisiana Organ Procurement Agency (LOPA) says there is an extreme shortage of organs available to those that desperately need them. "A lot of people think that when they put that little red heart on their license that they will automatically become an organ donor," said Morton, "but the reality is that only about three percent of us will actually become organ donors when we die."
KPLC 7 News, Lake Charles, Louisiana
10-year-old Sarah Murnaghan's family won the legal battle victory to add her name to the list for an adult lung after 18 months of waiting, with cystic fibrosis destroying her lungs. "It was a direct result of the ruling that allowed her to be put on the adult list," said Sarah's aunt, Sharon Ruddock. "It was not pediatric lungs, she would've never have gotten these lungs otherwise."
The organization that oversees national transplant policies has approved a one year change to make children under the age of 12 eligible to be put on the adult lung transplant list. That policy change is in effect until July 2014, then it will be reevaluated.
On Wednesday, adult lungs were flown in from Detroit and delivered to Sarah. "They were able to resize the adult lungs without any issue," said Ruddock, "it was a perfect fit into Sarah."
Sarah represented just one of the 118,000 on the organ transplant waiting list. Suzanna Morton with the Louisiana Organ Procurement Agency (LOPA) says there is an extreme shortage of organs available to those that desperately need them. "A lot of people think that when they put that little red heart on their license that they will automatically become an organ donor," said Morton, "but the reality is that only about three percent of us will actually become organ donors when we die."
______________________________________________________
"You have the power to SAVE lives."
To register as a donor in California:
www.donateLIFEcalifornia.org | www.doneVIDAcalifornia.org
Outside California:
www.organdonor.gov | www.donatelife.net
Comments
Post a Comment