Organ donation is something that hits close to home for me. My cousin was born with a genetic heart defect and by the age of 2 needed a heart transplant. While he waited, his health deteriorated drastically, but fortunately he was able to hold out until a heart became available. I also have experience with the other end of organ donation. A close friend of mine was killed in a car accident a few years ago and she was able to donate
her organs and tissue to about 8 different people. Knowing that
something good came of her tragic accident gave her family some peace in
a terribly difficult time. I believe organ donation is such an important thing and that everyone should become an organ and tissue donor. While organ donation saves thousands of lives each year, many people die each year waiting for an organ to become available. It saddens me to think that so many deaths could be preventable if only everyone became educated on the importance of organ donation. Some interesting facts that might help people choose to become an organ donor would be that ANYONE and EVERYONE can become an organ donor no matter their race, ethnicity, or gender. Also, most major religions support organ donation saying that it provides one last gift of love and generosity to those in need. The cost to become an organ donor is free! It doesn't cost the family of the donor anything for their organs and tissue to be donated once they have passed. It's also super easy to become an organ donor. If you go to
http://www.organdonor.gov and follow the link "Becoming a Donor" you will be led to your state's website to donate. It takes less than 10 minutes! 10 minutes well worth it. I believe that if everyone was more educated on the facts and how easy it is to sign up to donate, we could get a greater percentage of the population to become donors.
