GOOD MORNING ALL,
A VERY IMPORTANT TOPIC ONCE AGAIN CAME INTO LIGHT AS RECENTLY AS YESTERDAY,WHEN A WOMAN FROM OHIO REVEALED HER NEW LOOK AFTER RECEIVING THE WORLD'S FIRST FACE TRANSPLANT, AFTER BEING HORRIBLY DISFIGURED WHEN HER HUSBAND SHOT HER WITH A SHOTGUN.
ALTHOUGH I WON'T GO INTO ALL THE SPECIFICS OF THIS STORY,THE MESSAGE THAT I AM STRESSING UPON IS ORGAN DONATION.
THESE KINDS OF CASES ARE THE REASON WHY EVERY HUMAN BEING SHOULD CONSIDER MAKING SURE THAT IN THE EVENT OF THEIR DEATH,SOMEONE ELSE IS ABLE TO PROCEED WITH THEIR LIFE THROUGH THIS ULTIMATE GENEROCITY.
ORGAN TRANSPLANTS ARE RIPE WITH THE PROMISE OF LIFE. IN THE DECADES SINCE THE FIRST ORGAN TRANSPLANT, A KIDNEY, ON DECEMBER 23, 1954, SURGEONS HAVE SUCCESSFULY TRANSPLANTED MANY VITAL ORGANS-Kidney, Liver, Lungs, Heart, Pancreas, Intestine-AND SOME NONVITAL BODY PARTS, NOTABLY HANDS AND NOW FACES. IMPROVED SURGICAL TECHNIQUES, ORGAN PRESERVATION, AND TISSUE MATCHING TOGETHER WITH INCREASINGLY EFFECTIVE ANTI-REJECTION AGENTS AND ANTIBIOTICS, HAVE PRODUCED REMARKABLE SUCCESS. IN 2008, ONE-YEAR PATIENT SURVIVAL FOR KIDNEY TRANSPLANTS WAS APPROXIMATELY 95%. FOR LIVERS, IT WAS AROUND 80%. AFTER 10 YEARS, THE SURVIVAL RATE FOR BOTH DROPS TO AROUND 55 to 75%-THE HIGHER SURVIVABILITY THE RESULT OF LIVING DONOR TRANSPLANTS.
THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE IN TRANSPLANTATION IS THE CHRONIC SCARCITY OF ORGANS. ALTHOUGH 27,000 HUMAN ORGANS WERE TRANSPLANTED IN THE U S in 2008, 6,200 PATIENTS DIED WAITING FOR AN ORGAN THAT NEVER CAME-ALMOST 88,000 WAIT STILL.
IT'S AS SIMPLE AS CHECKING THE BOX ON YOUR DRIVERS LICENSE.



"To Remember Me--A Poem by Robert N. Test, American Poet

Give my sight to the man who has never seen a sunrise, a baby's face, or love in the eyes of a woman.

Give my heart to a person whose own heart has caused nothing but endless days of pain.

Give my blood to the teenager who was pulled from the wreckage of his car, so that he might live to see his grandchildren play.

Give my kidneys to one who depends on a machine to exist from week to week.

Take my bones, every muscle, every fiber and nerve in my body and find a way to make a crippled child walk.

If you must bury something, let it be my faults, my weaknesses, and all prejudice against my fellow man.

Give my sins to the devil.

Give my soul to God.

If, by chance, you wish to remember me, do it with a kind deed or word to someone who needs you. If you do all I have asked, I will live forever."