Can people store their own blood or the blood of a tested family member for a planned operation in Canada?
With any medical treatment it is good to weigh the risks against the benefits.
Blondie
Are You a Taker Not a Giver
by blondie 35 Replies latest watchtower medical
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Dan-O
I was always fine when butchering animals for dinner. And when I'm bandaging one of my kids after a cut or a scrape. But I never could stand the sight of my own blood. It gives me the heebie jeebies. Therefore, I've never donated blood.
The organ donor thing would be a possibility, but as was said above, I'd rather they wait until I'm dead. By then, I'll probably be riddled with cancer & whatever. Who knows?
I suppose I could wake up in a hotel bathtub packed with ice after a wild night, missing a kidney or something. Every time I turn around, I get some nonsense like that in my e-mail. *LOL*
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blondie
Dan-O, usually live donors are close family members who care a great deal about each other rather than strangers. Parent/child, sibling/sibling, etc., is usually the case and it is with your permission. In countries where the sale of organs is permissible, you find people selling organs for use in a stranger (or at times stolen...those cases are rare, you are more likely to be killed by a drunk driver on the way home from the store).
Blondie
Even if you died of cancer, you'd be surprised how much of the human body is still usable to help other people live longer and quality lives.
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neyank
I do.
I don't know if anyone wants it but I still do.
Just don't tell the elders. OK?
neyank -
Sunnygal41
Blondie.......good question! I personally am squeamish about giving blood. Whenever I have to have a blood test, I am grossed out about the whole process. I am a nervous wreck emotionally and physically. So, to give what the normal amount is for blood drives just totally makes me sick. Where I worked, for the past two years, we've hosted the Red Cross. Alot of the employees sign up to give. Our department is responsible for making appointments. Last year, I couldn't give because I had gotten a tatoo. This year, I gave it serious thought, and, for the life of me, could NOT bring myself to make an appointment! It just filled me with dread to think of giving my body fluid, my life, to another person. However, go figure..........I have on my driver's license, the provision of being an organ donor. Maybe it's just the whole being awake and aware thing. Once I'm dead, I won't need my body anymore. Why shouldn't someone benefit from my body parts. I am going to be cremated anyways, so, they may as well harvest whatever they can, recycle so to speak. If it can help another person by giving them an organ, or skin, or my corneas or whatever else..........then that's wonderful! Well, guess that's all I have to say........
Terri
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blondie
Here's an example of being a living donor, close family member to close family member. It is everyone's personal decision. I'm not saying you have to do it just that it is an option.
http://www.uexpress.com/dearabby/
MEDICAL ADVANCES ALLOW MOM TO DONATE KIDNEY TO HER SON
DEAR ABBY: Twenty years ago -- at the age of 3 -- my son was diagnosed with kidney disease. His illness worsened, his kidneys failed, he endured dialysis. Then he received a kidney transplant -- the miracle of life.
My son's first transplant was at age 6, and it gave him three great years. His second transplant was at 9. Both donors were deceased. The second kidney took him all the way through high school. He started dialysis again when he entered college, and the wait began for another kidney.
No one in our family could donate because we all had the wrong blood type. Then, one day, science and research came through for us again. A technique was perfected that allows a person to donate an organ of a different blood type from the recipient. My son was one of the first to benefit from the technique. We were able to use my wife's kidney, a near-perfect match except for her blood type. It worked!
That was three years ago. My son is healthier than he has been in 20 years and has just graduated from college.
How can we ever thank the two families who gave my son the gift of life that allowed him to survive long enough for my wife's kidney to be used? We will celebrate my son's life with thousands of other transplant recipients at the National Kidney Foundation U.S. Transplant Games this summer. Together we will pay tribute to the doctors and donors who made this happen as we commemorate the 50th anniversary of transplantation, a therapy that has saved more than 100,000 lives. -- ALAN MITTLEMAN, NATIONAL KIDNEY FOUNDATION
DEAR ALAN: I am pleased that so many with kidney disease are now enjoying healthy, normal lives as a result of this giant leap forward. Readers, April is National Donate a Life Month, a time for everyone to consider organ donation and to discuss their wishes with their families. For more information, or a free donor card, contact the National Kidney Foundation at Box DA, 30 E. 33rd St., New York, NY 10016, or call (800) 622-9010. The Web site is www.kidney.org.