Some of you may know, our lives here at the VNPs were greatly affected 15 years ago due to a disease called Biliary Atresia. It is a disease that effects 1 in 30,000 or so newborns and it usually requires a liver transplant.
My son, Jack was born with this dreaded disease and needed to have a liver transplant at the age of 11 months. He is only alive today, most likely because we bypassed the organ list and went the living related route. I gave him part of my liver on July 13, 1995.
Too many babies born with Biliary Atresia end up on the liver transplant list, hoping a donor arrives in time. Some lucky few have a Kasai procedure which help the person effected gain some time. The young man in the video below gained many years, but is now waiting for a new liver.
Living in New York is one of the hardest places to wait for any organ. He lives in Staten Island!
I have been a volunteer for a few organ transplant related places over the years and am currently a writer for the New York Organ Donor Network. So unfortunately I get all the facts and figures I never wanted to hear. Over the past few years, not only has New York been a hard place to wait in general, but organ donations have dropped drastically.
It is time to check your driver's license and see if you have the red heart on it. If you do not, please take a moment to sign up to be a donor.
Telling your family your intentions to be a donor is a great start but now you are allowed to give your own consent through the registry: TAKE ACTION
By signing up, you will be in the database by your own consent. For more information and to read more about my son and my own personal project to help promote organ donation, please visit the Transplant Companion today.
APRIL IS ORGAN DONOR AWARENESS!
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