Organ Donation- Part 2

Organ Donation congures up lots of emotion in all of us.  If you have been following the story of litttle Lucas Goeller, the 2 year old who needed a liver, you have seen true compassion and concern. And many of you have gained a partial understanding of the rules and regulations surrounding organ donation.   The Swedberg family of Nebraska made the decision to directly donate their daughter Olivia's liver to Lucas.  Olivia was dying of brain cancer.  And even though the blood type was not the same, the doctors felt that they could overcome that obstacle...and Lucas was given a chance to live.

All of the major religions support organ transplant.  And once you talk about it, you can decide if you want to donate all your organs, only some of them, your bone and tissue, your eyes...the decision is in your hands.

And just because you sign up to be a donor doesn't mean you will be able to actually donate.  So much depends on where you die and the cause of death.  If you die at home, it is unlikely you will be able to donate because of the lapse in time from death to harvesting the organs.

The most important thing you can do is to talk about your family about your thoughts.  Unfortunately, adult children sometimes have different opinions about organ donations and the stress of the death of a parent can conflict with the parent's wishes, especially if these wishes have not been discussed.

The main theme of this blog is "discussion".  No one knows what you are thinking unless you state your opinions.  No one is a mind reader but we all can be mindful.

Being mindful is key to success.  Whether it is mindful eating, mindful meditation or mindful party planning, if we stop and think about our actions and the ways in which our actions affect ourselves and others, we will be more thoughtful in how we conduct ourselves.  There isn't necessarily a correlation between what we think or plan and the actual outcome.  What is important is that we have given thought to the subject and then discussed our personal thoughts with the important people in our lives.