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Will you be donating organs?

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24

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    #32
    tohaltuwi
    Registered Users Posts: 2,463 ✭✭✭tohaltuwi


    At the time of their deaths I offered my elderly parents’ corneas, they were both on board with that as it is one of the tissues that can be donated late in life once other health factors don’t dictate against it. Unfortunately neither could donate. In my father’s case because he once had bowel cancer (didn’t die of it) and died of stroke-related aspiration pneumonia, and my mother died of hospital acquired pneumonia. Because immune suppression is applied to recipient potential doners can’t have an active infection at time of death.

    But it did bring staff awareness to the less usual situation of an elderly person offering tissues, and was mentioned at their funeral services to promote awareness.



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    #33
    Seth Brundle
    Moderators, Politics Moderators Posts: 39,855 Mod ✭✭✭✭Seth Brundle


    For years, I donated platelets. When I started donating, I gave blood (way back in the Pelican House days). It was here that they asked me to donate platelets because I was a good match apparently. I was told that a pregnant woman in Cavan (I won't name the town) was going to receive my donation. I've no idea if this was true or if the name on the folder was shown to all donors but nonetheless, it made me feel like I was helping someone.

    When I reached 100 donations (platelet donations can be done monthly (compared to quarterly for blood) and I usually gave double donations), I was invited to a fancy dinner in the Burlington. One of the speeches was by a woman who told us that she had multiple surgeries and needed several blood donations. Simply put, she would not have been there if it weren't for donors.

    A number of years ago, I had a heart attack which required stenting which was done in the Mater. I met a woman there from Kerry who had recently received a heart transplant. She was sitting beside me, and although she looked understandably crap, she was chatting with me and would soon enough be going home to her husband and kids. I've no idea how she is doing now but someone gave her a second chance at life. Someone gave her kids another chance of having their mother.

    Since getting my heart problems, I cannot donate platelets any more which, to be honest, was an hour or two of "me time" as much as anything else. If I could, I'd donate again today!

    Will I donate my organs when I die? Why the hell wouldn't I? They'll be no use to me but may be life saving to someone else. I might help someone get to see their kids again!



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    #34
    Ezeoul
    Registered Users Posts: 3,018 ✭✭✭Ezeoul


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122197303#Comment_122197303

    Priority for medical treatment is decided based on medical need, not on a transactional or conditional basis, which is as it should be.



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    #35
    suvigirl
    Registered Users Posts: 8,509 ✭✭✭suvigirl


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122196337#Comment_122196337

    Pretty sure the government doesn't decide who gets your organs🙄

    They can have anything of mine that is any use at all. Knew a woman that donated her whole body to medical science, the family got the body back around 12 months later and had a ceremony then. I would opt for that, if my mother is dead before me, she wouldn't go for it.



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    #36
    Ezeoul
    Registered Users Posts: 3,018 ✭✭✭Ezeoul


    My brother enquired about donating his body and they said they have some many offering they are not adding any more at the moment.



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    #37
    aidanodr
    Registered Users Posts: 1,832 ✭✭✭aidanodr


    Yip sure will .. my other half has had a kidney transplant since 2009 … diagnosed in 2006, on dialysis from Sept 06 to June 2009. Transplant was such a huge gift. The difference in her the day after the op in Beaumont was incredible. We are in Cork, the Renal / Heart unit in CUH is top class. I think they maybe looking at doing transplants there now also, if not already.

    So for obvious reasons I would 100% encourage anyone to donate organs, it makes such a huge difference, literally a giver of life to someone else



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    #38
    helimachoptor
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 21,658 Mod ✭✭✭✭helimachoptor


    Can have everything expect for my corneas tbh.



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    #39
    Iscreamkone
    Registered Users Posts: 915 ✭✭✭Iscreamkone


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122197675#Comment_122197675

    My opinion is different to yours.



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    #40
    Ezeoul
    Registered Users Posts: 3,018 ✭✭✭Ezeoul


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122197782#Comment_122197782

    That's allowed. It's just an opinion, after all.



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    #41
    Nigel Fairservice
    Moderators, Regional Abroad Moderators Posts: 2,259 Mod ✭✭✭✭Nigel Fairservice


    We donated some of my mother's organs when she passed away after a brian aneurism. I know 2 people got her kidneys and 2 babies got her heart valves. I don't know anthing else other than that. Despite knowing the good it can do it's still a hard decision to make when faced with it. I think it's a question a lot of people answer yes to without really thinking too deeply about what it means.

    We had a similar experience to banie01's second experience. I have a lock of my mother's hair and the handprint the organ donation team took at her bedside hangs in my living room and I see it everyday.

    I still have mixed feelings about the experience. I remember the surgeons came to take my mother's organs at about 3 am. Sitting at someones bedside for the final few hours waiting for this to happen is a strange experience. You want it to end and you don't at the same time. When the surgeons arrived we had to leave and went home after being at the hospital for 2 days straight. When we got home I sat out in the back garden for a while. It was a warm night. I remember I was bothered that my mother passed away, in one sense, on a table surrounded by strangers. It's probably a silly thing to say because I know she was already gone before that but I would have liked to have been there.

    I had my first child recently and I think the donation means more to me now than before. I know that our families donation did good for 2 babies and 4 parents and maybe made their lives a bit easier. The bad of the experience has been outweighed by the good.

    I would donate my organs but I can't as I have multiple sclerosis. Can't donate blood either.



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    #42
    Goldengirl
    Registered Users Posts: 13,749 ✭✭✭✭Goldengirl


    I always wanted to donate my organs and so did my husband from the first time we talked about it , many moons ago .

    He always donated blood until they didn't want it after we came back from UK .. BSE risk .

    I have looked after many transplant recipients in my time as a nurse , young and old , and unfortunately people who didn't get them /in time.

    But he has had cancer .And I am a diabetic and immunocompromised.

    So don't think they will want us now , I am sorry to say .

    They can take whatever bits of us they want for research , we have told our children

    @banie01 I am glad you had a better experience after your poor brother died so suddenly .

    As another poster said above hopefully it will lessen the grief in some way knowing that the person helps another to live on ?



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    #43
    CorneliusBrown
    Registered Users Posts: 79 ✭✭CorneliusBrown


    no, I’m afraid I wont be donating them.



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    #44
    JVince
    Registered Users Posts: 1,170 ✭✭✭JVince


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122195759#Comment_122195759

    UCD faculty of medicine will enjoy the study of you :)

    I'd be very agnostic and pragmatic. I have it on my phone, in the dashboard and in my wallet. If I'm gone, feel free to use any part of me for any purpose whatsoever.

    Wife hopes she's gone before me 😀



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    #45
    Strumms
    Registered Users Posts: 25,473 ✭✭✭✭Strumms


    I’ve no issue with people who donate or those who don’t want to.

    It’s a personal choice and I think it’s a bit poxy of anybody who decides to criticise someone or chastise someone based on their outlook is on donation.

    I don’t carry a donor card. In the future who knows….



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    #46
    Iscreamkone
    Registered Users Posts: 915 ✭✭✭Iscreamkone


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122199941#Comment_122199941

    Do you think it’s fair to not want to donate your organs - but want organs donated to you if needed?



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    #47
    Leg End Reject
    Registered Users Posts: 17,115 ✭✭✭✭Leg End Reject


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122196337#Comment_122196337

    I no longer trust that my organ will be on a fair list of who benefits.

    That's very animal farm, "All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others'.

    I'd rather anything useful be donated. I'm also thinking of signing up with one of the medical schools to donate my body in the event that my organs can't be harvested.

    The alternative is decomposition or burning, why not be useful in death?

    https://forumofgames.com/index.php




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    #48
    Deregos.
    Registered Users Posts: 640 ✭✭✭Deregos.


    Carrying a donar card is a good idea and should be mandatory.

    I myself have plenty of superfluous appendage to donate to anyone if they're lacking in the organ department.

    DM me for details.



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    #49
    CorneliusBrown
    Registered Users Posts: 79 ✭✭CorneliusBrown


    what if you don’t want your organs donated but you leave your wallet at home and get hit by a car?



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    #50
    Leg End Reject
    Registered Users Posts: 17,115 ✭✭✭✭Leg End Reject


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122200158#Comment_122200158

    Well, it depends on whether you survive or not.

    If you die an autopsy will be required. Organ and body donation aren't possible after an autopsy.

    If you die in hospital and are a suitable donor your next of kin will be asked to consent, they will be able to decline if they wish.

    Editing to add, there isn't a non-donor card so your forgotten wallet would be irrelevant.

    https://forumofgames.com/index.php




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    #51
    Strumms
    Registered Users Posts: 25,473 ✭✭✭✭Strumms


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122200100#Comment_122200100

    if it was mandatory, you wouldn’t need a card though, everyone would just be harvested at death.

    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122200039#Comment_122200039

    I can see your point. But do I think it’s fair, hmmm probably I do ….


    an example, a person with certain health issues may just not qualify to be a donor, if a person has had certain addictions would be one example, or other illnesses / health issues…. However I don’t think those people should be precluded from receiving organs… just because they can’t / don’t want to donate.



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    #52
    SunnySundays
    Registered Users Posts: 224 ✭✭SunnySundays


    Absolutely, I'll have zero need for them when I'm dead and if they can be of use to someone else then why not.

    I think it's selfish not too.



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    #53
    ceadaoin.
    Registered Users Posts: 8,296 ✭✭✭ceadaoin.


    Are there any restrictions in Ireland on who can be a donor? I live in the US now and am ineligible to even donate blood, let alone organs, due to having lived in Europe during the BSE/CJD outbreak. I thought that seemed a bit outdated when I first heard of it but maybe it's a common thing?



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    #54
    suvigirl
    Registered Users Posts: 8,509 ✭✭✭suvigirl


    Why are there some people so adamant they won't be a donor? Just wondering about the reasons for it. Like to me, I'm dead, not using them, someone else may as well. But for those against, what are the reasons?



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    #55
    Vote4Squirrels
    Registered Users Posts: 1,108 ✭✭✭Vote4Squirrels


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122200497#Comment_122200497

    I don't understand it myself - my father passed from Covid and had health issues so organ donation was not an option but he carried a donor card all his adult life, as have I.

    He likened it to a cheap bag full of cash - take out the valuables before burning/burying the bag.

    If people have a reason not to donate that is a personal decision but if your relative carries a donor card and makes it clear they wish to donate, I think it's very wrong to deny this as next of kin.



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    #56
    eightieschewbaccy
    Registered Users Posts: 2,975 ✭✭✭eightieschewbaccy


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122200401#Comment_122200401

    I think the BSE stuff doesn't apply any more for blood donation. But transfusions would blacklist you. A lot of people with chronic illnesses tend to restrict for donation too I think.



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    #57
    ballyargus
    Registered Users Posts: 1,013 ✭✭✭ballyargus


    the only reasons I've ever heard for not donating your organs have either been selfish, idiotic, or both.



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    #58
    riffmongous
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 12,782 Mod ✭✭✭✭riffmongous


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122201643#Comment_122201643

    Seems so, so far at least.. can anyone put forward any good reasons for not donating? I am curious now if I've overlooked something (Have a donor card in my wallet)



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    #59
    riffmongous
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 12,782 Mod ✭✭✭✭riffmongous


    Double post



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    #60
    riffmongous
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 12,782 Mod ✭✭✭✭riffmongous


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122200401#Comment_122200401

    They had that in continental europe years ago, but it was only for UK folk iirc



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    #61
    TokTik
    Registered Users Posts: 1,497 ✭✭✭TokTik


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122200497#Comment_122200497

    My body, my choice. Remember that plucky little slogan. It’s nobodies business what other people want to do with their bodies, within reason of course.



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