Around Town
Life Goes On!
And everyone is urged to participate in this lifesaving program.
Did you know that nearly 120,000 people across the nation are waiting for a transplant of an organ.
Currently, 4,700 are on the waiting list in Illinois, 80% of them for a kidney transplant, 12% needing a liver transplant, while others await a pancreas, heart, lungs, or small intestines.
Other needs are veins, heart valves, bone, and skin tissues.
It is reassuring to know that Illinois has one of the most successful state registries, with more than six million participants. More than 50% of those who visit a State Drivers License Facility join the "Organ/Tissue Donor Registry."
Up to 25 patients can benefit from a single donor.
The Illinois Secretary of State's office maintains an official registry of those who wish to donate organs/tissues, following their death. The registry is maintained in a secure database in the state capitol complex, staffed by Secretary of State and State Police officers.
It is no longer required for a family member to give their consent to have the procedure done, if the person had signed a consent previously.
The "First-Person Consent Order/Tissue Donor Registry" is offered to any Illinois citizen, a decision to save one or many more lives. (However, in 2011, when my husband passed away on September 14, I had to sign papers, as he was dying, giving my OK, although he was registered on his driver's license.)
The actual surgical procedures are done as soon as possible, following the death, in an operating room in St. Louis.
There, Mid-America Transplant Services maintains a team of trained recovery personnel.
MTS recovers skin, bone, and tissue, such as tendons and ligaments. These are divided scientifically and stored in specific sizes needed for awaiting patients.
Bone can be used for fusion, knee and hip repair and facial jaw reconstruction, following a traumatic accident or tumor removal.
Skin can be used as a temporary burn dressing, and in reconstructive and aesthetic surgeries, or in bladder suspension procedures.
Tendons and ligaments return mobility and can be used to stabilize joints, such as in knee surgery.
Fascia lata is a strong connective tissue that is used to repair detached retinas, ruptured rotor cuffs, or for foot drop corrections.
When retrieving heart valves for transplant, the entire heart is recovered. The two main valves are removed and cryopreserved, until they are transplanted.
Cryopreservation is a specialized freezing process that allows the valves to be stored or banked for a long period. Veins and arteries are also stored using this process.
MTS is a community-based, not-for-profit organization dedicated to enhancing the quality of human life.
MTS coordinates the procurement of organs, tissues, and eyes in hospitals throughout eastern and southeastern Missouri and northeastern Arkansas, as well as southern Illinois.
The organization has been providing families the opportunity to give "The Gift of Life" for over thirty-five years.
In the monthly newsletter, an MTS spokesman was quoted. "We save lives through excellence in organ and tissue donations, honoring and supporting families who have made the generous gift of donations, and celebrating the lives of those who have received a lifesaving transplant."
Recognizing the importance of family members knowing how their loved one's gift of tissue saved or improved someone's life, MTS continually works to improve ways to provide as much information as possible to tissue donor families, about the recipients.
Receiving information is a challenge, since MTS does not receive direct notification when a tissue transplant takes place.
Another challenge to obtaining recipient information is that the "Health Insurance Portability Information and Accountability Act of 1996" requires written permission from the tissue recipient before any information can be released to a donor family.
All communications between tissue recipients and donor families must be initiated by the tissue recipient.
According to MTS, recipients are sometimes so overwhelmed by the magnitude of their lifesaving gift that they feel that they cannot adequately thank the donor family.
Due to feelings of guilt or the fear of creating emotional pain to the family, the recipient sometimes chooses not to connect.
On a personal note, I have not been contacted by any of the recipients of my husband's tissues. Since he was over the age of providing organs, only his bones, skin, and tissue were donated.
I have faith that several people were helped by his generous gift.
To those who have made the decision to sign their driver's license, your generosity may have helped a mother see her family again. It may have provided more years for a grandfather to enjoy his grandchildren. It may have restored a child's heart to normalcy or enabled an elderly lady to walk without pain. It may have given a burn victim another chance for a good life.
MTS has again partnered with area colleges, to present their third annual "Green-Up Games" during National Donate Life Month in April. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic that is occurring, these events may be canceled or rescheduled.
Baseball and softball teams at each school will "Go Green" at select home games to raise awareness for organ and tissue donations, with a special pregame ceremony to honor donors and celebrate "The Gift of Life."
The schools in our area will include: SEMO Softball - April 4, SIU-C Softball - April 11, SIU-C Baseball - April 18, and SEMO Baseball - April 25.
RSVP for the game you plan to attend at www.midamericatransplant.org/green-up. A few days before the event you will receive additional details via email on the game you selected.
Information on organ/tissue donations is also available by calling Secretary of State Jesse White's office at (800) 210-2106.
For more information on MTS, call (888) 376-4854.