April is Donation Awareness Month!

April is Organ/Tissue Donation Awareness Month! Have you registered as a donor? Does your state have an online registry? Is the heart on your driver's license first person consent? Does your family know where you stand?

Organ/Tissue donation saves lives. Consider recycling yourself.

Over 100,000 people are waiting right now for transplants in the US.
18 people die every day waiting for organs that didn't come in time.

Will you think about it, educate yourself, and share your decisions?

Here are some important things to know, thanks to Carolina Donor Services for this info:



Myths and Misconceptions

The largest barrier to organ & tissue donation
» Uninformed public
» Misinformation
» Gossip/Urban Legends


Myth No. 1.
If I agree to donate my organs, my doctor or the emergency room staff won't work as hard to save my life. They'll remove my organs as soon as
possible to save somebody else.

Reality.
When you go to the hospital for treatment, doctors focus on saving your life — not somebody else's. You'll be seen by a doctor whose specialty most closely matches your particular emergency. The doctor in charge of your care
has nothing to do with transplantation.

Myth No. 2.
Maybe I won't really be dead when they sign my death certificate. It'll be too late for me if they've taken my organs for transplantation. I might have otherwise recovered.

Reality. Although it's a popular topic in the tabloids, in reality, people don't start to wiggle a toe after they're declared dead. In fact, people who have agreed to organ donation are given more tests to determine that they are truly dead than are those who haven't agreed to organ donation.

Myth No. 3.
Organ donation is against my religion.

Reality.
Organ donation is consistent with the beliefs of most religions. This includes Catholicism, Protestantism, Islam and most branches of Judaism. If you're unsure of or uncomfortable with your faith's position on donation, ask a
member of your clergy. Another option is to check the Carolina Donor Services web site www.carolinadonorservices.org which provides religious
views on organ donation and transplantation by denomination.


Myth No. 4.
I'm under age 18. I'm too young to make this decision.

Reality.
That's true, in a legal sense. But your parents can authorize this decision. You can express to your parents your wish to donate, and your parents can give their consent knowing that it's what you wanted. Children, too, are in need of
organ transplants, and they usually need organs smaller than those an adult can provide.

Myth No. 5.
I want my loved one to have an open-casket funeral. That can't happen if his or her organs or tissues have been donated.

Reality.
Organ and tissue donation doesn't interfere with having an open- casket funeral. The donor's body is clothed for burial, so there are no visible signs of organ or tissue donation.


Myth No. 6.
I'm too old to donate. Nobody would want my organs.

Reality.
There's no defined cutoff age for donating organs. Organs have been successfully transplanted from donors in their 70s and 80s. The decision to use your organs is based on strict medical criteria, not age. Don't disqualify yourself
prematurely. Let the doctors decide at your time of death whether your organs and tissues are suitable for transplantation.


Myth No. 7.
I'm not in the greatest health, and my eyesight is poor. Nobody would want my organs or tissues.

Reality.
Very few medical conditions automatically disqualify you from donating organs. The decision to use an organ is based on strict medical criteria. It may turn out that certain organs are not suitable for transplantation, but other organs
and tissues may be fine. Don't disqualify yourself prematurely. Only medical professionals at the time of your death can determine whether your organs are suitable for transplantation.


Myth No. 8.
Rich, famous and powerful people always seem to move to the front of the line when they need a donor organ. There's no way to ensure that my organs will go to those who've waited the longest or are the neediest.

Reality.
The rich and famous aren't given priority when it comes to allocating organs. It may seem that way because of the amount of publicity generated when celebrities receive a transplant, but they are treated no differently from anyone else. In fact, the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), the organization responsible for maintaining the national organ transplant network, subjects all
celebrity transplants to an internal audit to make sure the organ allocation was appropriate.

Myth No. 9.
My family will be charged if I donate my organs.

Reality.
The organ donor's family is never charged for donating. The family is charged for the cost of all final efforts to save your life, and those costs are sometimes misinterpreted as costs related to organ donation. Costs for organ removal
go to the transplant recipient.