Never Mind the Blood, Give 'em your Kidneys! 

Here's a subject which probably won't get much discussion time around the coffee tables at work or the dinner tables at home - death and organ donation.

In New Zealand and Australia, there is a combined population of just a shade over 24 million. Assuming life expectancy of 80, there are roughly 300,000 of them die annually.

Of that, how many of those dead have pre-arranged matters so that any spare organs get donated to living donors?  

Since these organs are of no use whatsoever to the deceased they are lying in, there can be no excuse for not being an organ donor. Religious, cultural and other beliefs are common reasons for not going ahead with organ donation and I have a message for those people - come with me and visit possibly the most beautiful ten year old girl in the country.

This very special little girl was sick to the point of her only option being a major organ transplant.

Her family waited and watched her sicken as she tried to grow up as a toddler and child, inflicted as she was with a debilitating and short-term terminal disease. That she survived to the age of her transplant is a testament to her doctors and parents.

Then, as usual at some ungodly hour, comes the call from the hospital.

Probably the bravest parents of any child in Australasia that year, a couple in Australia had lost their child in a horrific accident, but had made the beautiful decision to allow his/her organs to be used to save other children and the liver was a match for transplant.

An emergency flight to Starship, an 11 hour operation and months and months of anguish, rejection and infection, then, finally, a little girl's body seizes upon this new organ and takes ownership of it. That was three years ago.

She is a happy, healthy and beautiful little girl whose life is now an open book rather than the closed chapter it would have been without a pair of extremely brave, grieving parents in Australia.

I have been fortunate enough not to have had a close family member die early yet, but have been very close to people who have. There is no point trying to figure out how much anguish a person in that situation feels, our understanding of feelings can only go so far, but to lose a child is clearly the most devastating thing which can befall a human.

Deciding to give your dead child's organs away cannot be a spur of the moment thing. A set of parents is in no shape to think, let alone talk, about anything immediately after the sudden death of a child.

That is exactly why it needs to be thought about now. With death being a fairly impolite subject at the best of times, discussing what one might do in the case of a one's own child's death is not a popular subject. But, if a determined and conscious decision is made now, at the time of death the fact that no decision need be made, merely documents signed, gives those lifesaving organs a chance at another life, helping another person live. Imagine that while you have lost a child you are at least able to take some minute comfort that your child's sacrifice has given a chance at life to another. You may save another set of parents from going through exactly what you are.

Aside from children there are hundreds of thousands of other deceased each year between the two nations and many are quite suitable for organ donation.

Obviously, the majority of people who die in any given year are ones where the body is pretty worn out or diseased to the extent that most of the bits are unusable for donation purposes, but even in those cases bone marrow, corneas or some part could be useful.

Conversely, the majority of sudden deaths, including both nations' biggest killer, heart attacks, are exactly the type of death, along with motorbike and other crashes which are highly suitable for donations of kidneys, livers, eyes - and no doubt in the future, arms and legs.

For some years, there has been the option for Kiwis to opt in to organ donation and have it recorded on a driving licence, yet even though a person may have asked that organs be donated, family members have often refused to sign the consent forms!

This situation is something which can be changed simply by talking about the subject and making your family aware that if you croak, at least don't waste the physical bits.

It's hard enough getting people to donate blood; needles, pain and fear of clinics all conspire to keep donors to a paltry 4% of the public, yet organ donation requires no pain, no effort at all. (apart from such rare cases as the extra special Grant Kereama, one of the few living donors - of Jonah's new kidney for anyone who didn't know)

Just spend ten minutes thinking about a dying but treatable child, then decide whether you actually have a genuine reason which says it is wrong for you to go out right now and tell your family members that you have realised that even in death you can be part of life and wish to donate your organs if you die. Then go and do it.

For the record, I am a lifelong blood donor of over 50 units to date and have always had my name on the organ donation list and my family will definitely ensure they are available - assuming anyone wants them!