Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask you to consider organ donation?

113 replies

DrSeuss · 04/03/2011 10:05

In five days time, it will be twelve years since a dear friend received her new lungs. They were the gift of a family who had just lost their young son, Matthew, and are the only reason she is alive today. My friend, her family and any one who knows her will be eternally grateful for this gift, given at a time when they could have chosen to focus solely on themselves.

If you have not already done so, please consider carrying a donor card, putting your name on the Organ Donor Register and making your wishes known to your family.

www.uktransplant.org.uk/ukt/how_to_become_a_donor/how_to_become_a_donor.jsp

OP posts:
laughalot · 04/03/2011 12:32

I wasnt on list until a few months ago but am now. It sounds really silly but I felt like I was tempting fate by putting us all down we have two children 7 and 4 and I just panicked. However I realised that should me or my family ever get ill we would be forever gratefull for a organ donation so I did it Grin.

vj32 · 04/03/2011 12:38

I don't mind what happens to my body after I'm dead. I do know that they won't want all of me though - one of my kidneys doesn't work too well. So they had better get look at my medical notes before they get someones hopes up! (That sounds really gruesome. Nevermind. Its sunny today!!)

kreecherlivesupstairs · 04/03/2011 12:44

bemybebe, as long as you aren't prepared to receive an organ without being prepared to donate yours.
..................of course the doctors treating you would do everything they could. It is their job.

bemybebe · 04/03/2011 12:56

melrose "Let's hope someone else is more trusting if saving your life involves a donated organ."

oh, well, what could i expect? Hmm i just said i am in two minds and do not feel comfortable with the process having seen someone close to me recovering v well after being in coma for a month (he had made his wishes to donate his body for research after his death 20 years ago, incidentally).

personal remarks like that are stupid because they do not further your argument and do not make me feel more likely to put myself forward.

kreecherlivesupstairs · 04/03/2011 13:10

I will retract my insult Bemy, if you consider carefully putting yourself on the register.
I am really of the mind that if you are prepared to accept an organ you should be prepared to give one on your death.
I am not belittling your experience, but I think it is quite rare. Doctors don't generally make predictions regarding recovery if they aren't true.

LyingWitchInTheWardrobe2726 · 04/03/2011 13:11

I'm registered, and for bone marrow too. I just don't talk about it with my Mum, she hates the idea.

bemybebe · 04/03/2011 13:17

no hard feelings now Smile this subject is very emotive. i AM considering it very carefully and threads/media reports like that always make me think. if anyone can point out the guidelines how the decisions are made in the uk, i will appreciate it a lot, it seems i cannot find anything authoritative on this subject...

ThisIsANiceCage · 04/03/2011 13:33

Hang on.

bemybaby, you are close to someone who did indeed register to donate his cadaver, was subsequently in your nightmare scenario of being in a coma and considered hopeless, but who continued to be given full medical support until he actually recovered (hurray), even tho he wasn't expected to?

That's a pretty compelling example of organ/cadaver donation not causing poorer care.

I know it's a difficult one, but I hope on reflection you do decide to donate.

Rhinestone · 04/03/2011 13:45

The most important thing is to let your next of kin know your wishes. My DH knows that I am happy to donate any part of me.

I object to the idea of automatically being put on the register and having to opt out. My organs don't belong to the state - they belong to me and I choose to donate them if necessary.

bumperella · 04/03/2011 13:53

Do organs deteriorate if the patient is hooked up to life support/ in a coma for a longer while? I didn't think it made any difference, so there would be no point in "rushing" to unplug life support for a donor. Sorry to sound heartless, but the waiting lists for donor organs are such that even if it was too late for the first recipient candidate on the list, there would be plenty of others.

MigGril · 04/03/2011 13:57

I'm not on the register, as fear that they could be more interested in my parts then trying to save me. BUT DH is well aware that should anything happen to me I would be happy to donate my organs. Maybe I should let more family be aware of this just in case something should happen to both of us.

bemybebe · 04/03/2011 14:24

"Hang on.

bemybaby, you are close to someone who did indeed register to donate his cadaver, was subsequently in your nightmare scenario of being in a coma and considered hopeless, but who continued to be given full medical support until he actually recovered (hurray), even tho he wasn't expected to?

That's a pretty compelling example of organ/cadaver donation not causing poorer care.

I know it's a difficult one, but I hope on reflection you do decide to donate."

ThisIsANiceCage - only it is not how i feel about the story. He was considered hopeless by some, not all doctors. Without those with more positive outlook the family well may have been persuaded to accept the 'inevitable'.

I did not say I am against donating my own organs, did i? I am just hesitant to go on the register. (I give blood regularly and I am now signed to cord blood banking for the baby due in Sept).

Original poster
DrSeuss · 04/03/2011 16:29

Hijack! The point of the thread is to publicise the idea of organ donation and to give you the tools to register SHOULD YOU CHOOSE TO DO SO! If you don't want to register, fine. If you do, fine. But please stop arguing!

OP posts:
rinabean · 04/03/2011 16:47

Thanks for highlighting this. I'm already on the organ register, but you've made me think again about blood and bone marrow donation. I'm totally for them but in practice I'm a huge wimp. You've made me remember to keep trying to work up the courage, though, thanks :)

olderandwider · 04/03/2011 17:45

who decides you are dead

LyingWitchInTheWardrobe2726 · 04/03/2011 18:00

That's a good link, olderandwider... very informative.

Agrees with DrSeuss... stop arguing and berating posters on this issue because people have free choice and 'shouting' at them isn't going to influence them one jot - except the other way.

SoftKittyWarmKitty · 04/03/2011 19:11

Great thread DrSeuss. I'm on the register and am willing to donate anything except my kidneys, which no-one will want as they're f*cked! I've got kidney disease, and while it's under control at the moment, if my kidneys deteriorate in the future I may need a kidney transplant. My biggest fear (after something happening to DS, of course) is not living to see him grow up. I would urge everyone to go on the list. After all, you don't need your organs when you're dead, but someone else does.

noddyholder · 04/03/2011 19:13

Have had two transplants and can,t tell you how amazing it is I feel like I have had a real new start and it's amazing ESP after dialysis which is an existence not living

Original poster
DrSeuss · 04/03/2011 19:24

So we got two new potential donors. Not a bad day's work!
If as many as possible post the link on their FB page, who knows how many we'll get?

OP posts:
LadyOfTheManor · 04/03/2011 19:28

I wouldn't give or receive body parts. I am not registered and don't intend to be.

Original poster
DrSeuss · 04/03/2011 19:31

My FB page just found two more.

Lady, that's entirely up to you.

OP posts:
raspberryshake · 04/03/2011 19:55

In just over 2 weeks time it will be 6 years since my husband received a kidney, donated as a live donation from his mum. She has done something amazing and given him the gift of life twice. We have since gone on to get married and have a beautiful daughter, I am currently pregnant with our second child.

Our life together when he was on dialysis was so different to how it us now. He did home dialysis (peritoneal dialysis) every night for 9 hours so if we were away for the night it took some organising! The NHS were great and the renal units at Queen Alexandra hospital and Edinburgh Royal infirmary are second to none.

Every year my husband competes in the UK Transplant Games, a sporting competition for transplantees in the UK, from children through to adults. Go to www.uktransplant.org for more information. These people are truly an inspiration in how to live life to the full!

I have seen first hand the difference an organ donation can make to someone's life. I am registered, and although I am not a match for my husband, should his kidney fail again, I would gladly give one of my kidney to someone if their spouse was a match for my husband, and it meant he would receive a kidney (I think they call this domino donation)

Please go to the NHS organ donation website to find out more info about organ donation and register.

5inthebed · 04/03/2011 20:03

Both myself and DH are donors.

My lovely uncle died last year and donated his heart, lungs, one kidney, corneas, skin and heart valves.

RunAwayWife · 04/03/2011 20:05

Already registered,

thefirstMrsDeVere · 04/03/2011 20:08

Dont forget to register to donate blood too Grin

Please please please please please.

www.blood.co.uk

Ta.