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Monday, May 16, 2011

Keep your loved ones alive : Donate organs

Life begins from the womb of a mother since eternity . Being a mother is the most wonderful feeling as giving birth to a life is the ultimate sense of creation . Creating a life is motherly and giving life to a person who needs it the most is well equivalent to being a mother . Giving life through organ donation . A mother creates life and technically we can all mother someone as we all have one chance to do so . Through organ donation , one last chance to be a mother, a life giver .


This admission from the father strengthened my view about promoting organ donation . Organ donation per se , is not new as an option to live on , and to support life . The promising options have lead to emergence of new technologies in this field during the last couple of decades . At the same time technology advancement is not enough towards making organ donation a promising option of life saving . A change in the mind set and a better conditioning of our value system can work wonders , towards our readiness to donate our organs . We often think about organ donation as a life saving technology when we ourselves or a loved one is waiting for an organ .Otherwise we simply overlook the fact that God has given us a chance to save life and we should act pro-actively ourselves .
Being a parent who lost a child , my daughter who was an angel to me , I know that it is not easy to think of organ donation at the time when it needs to be done , that is when your are grief struck by the huge unimaginable loss . At the same time something like organ donation is not necessarily a decision made at the spur of the moment like instant coffee .  I feel that the pledge to donate our organs should be so inculcated in our value system that it becomes as important as the other last rites we perform after loosing someone. It becomes all the more important because , as a matter of fact , organs of young and healthy deceased are most valuable for transplant and sadly , the deaths of the young and healthy individuals are the most shocking and grief striking for the families . The feeling that we can make our loved ones live on through their organs needs to be understood and needs to be spread as awareness . One young and healthy body can live on through many bodies as different organs can be transplanted to many waiting transplant aspirants . Isn't it satisfying to be able to give life to someone , not necessarily through birthing ?

Societal values also play a big role . As an organised entity , doctors , priests who perform the last rites and the parents of young healthy deceased who have already donated organs of their loved ones , can come together to bring awareness . Soon there will be many friends and family who can work in close coordination to counsel wherever and whenever it is needed . Here I would like to say we may form a formal group of doctors, parents and priests at strategic  places i.e. Hospitals, funeral ground, along  with suitable speciality (facility to conduct quick donation). This group will be able to give right counselling to decision makers. This is also important because timing of organ donation is very much crucial for any organ transplantation.
We have to understand that by donating organs we are giving another shot of life to deceased person. This is like giving true meaning to life continuum . 
So friends come forward and take a pledge for organ donation .
The pledge form will take you to Sir Ganga Ram Hospital Organ Donation Registry site, however you can pledge at any suitable registry.