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Organ Donation

Over 64,000 people in the US are awaiting an organ transplant. Although transplant surgeries are now fairly routine and can give their recipients the gift of life, the road to getting a transplant can be long and harrowing. Living with immunosuppressive drugs and strong emotional responses can also be more challenging than patients and families imagine.

Worldwide, the kidney remains the most sought-after organ followed by the liver, heart, heart-lung, and pancreas.   Organ allocation is the most controversial issue facing the transplant community.   Although the National Organ Transplantation Act made the allocation of organs more fair by mandating a national waiting list of organ recipients, registry-discrepancies still exist. Among the criteria currently considered for waiting list priority are: waiting time, tissue and blood-type matching, size matching, and severity of illness.   For various reasons, females wait longer than males.  African-Americans and other minorities trail behind Caucasians.  Children are generally given higher priority than adults. Depending where one lives, waiting times vary considerably.  A kidney recipient waits an average of three years to receive a transplant.

The internet has a vast number of sites dedicated to organ and specifically kidney transplantation.  Equally important are sites that support organ donation.  Sites such as the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) and the Transplant Recipients International Organization, Inc. (TRIO) are a good start.  Using the different Search Engines such as Yahoo! or AltaVista, begin searching on National Kidney Foundation and your home state.  Each state has it's own NKF chapter.  Continue searching on organ transplant, organ donation, kidney transplant, etc.  With a little effort you are sure to find the information you need.   Good Luck!