WOW. I am so happy for you that you were able to be helped in this way. What a blessing! I do not have any personal experience with this, but have thought about it a lot. I would love to hear more of your story if you are willing to share.
My brother-in-law works for an organization that coordinates organ and tissue transplants (match up donors with recipients, arrange for transportation of the organs/tissue and surgery when the time comes, work with families of donors to offer information, support, comfort, etc.). I know your head must be absolutely swimming with questions and emotions, but know you're not alone. For lots of reasons, recipients are not allowed to have access to donor information. Thank goodness you're okay
Harpo, thanks for sharing. I'm glad you were able to get the femur that you need. I'm not a donor recipient yet, but I am on the list to receive a new liver. I am also very curious how I will feel about it when the time comes. The thought of having someone else's body part inside of me is kinda eerie. I do understand how you are thinking. I also hope that I will get to know something about the donor and maybe get to express my gratitude to the family.
Wow, what an amazing story! I don't have the experience either, but at the very least, maybe you've encouraged a few more people here to become donors. I hope your recovery is going well.
This American Life has a podcast available (came out last week, I think) called "The Ties That Bind". One of the segments is about a girl who received a heart from a boy that had been murdered. The mother couldn't resist going to great lengths to find out everything she could about the boy, but her daughter was more apprehensive. It was a really touching story that perhaps you would relate to. I suppose there would be an inherent urge to delve into the history behind a piece of a complete stranger that is integral to your survival. Check it out if you can. I hope you are ok! That sounds like a really rough thing to go through!
EDIT: The part of the story that had me in tears was when the girl went to meet the mother of the boy and she had mentioned that she wanted to "feel" her son's heart. It turned out that when she went to hug the girl, she came up right to her chest and by resting her head there, could feel the heart. Amazing!
You usually cant contact the family directly, but I know that some hospitals/states/organizations (I dont know who runs it) will allow 3rd party contact where you can send a thank you note to the donor organizers and they can send it to the donor family.
I'm not a recipient, but I'm a registered donor. I figure that if I were ever going to be in the position to receive one, I should be willing to GIVE one if I'm healthy/dead, y'know?
Could you contact the transplant organizers in your state and see if you could write an anonymous thank you letter, and have them pass it along to the donor's family?
I'm not a recipient, but when my Dad died suddenly we made the decision to allow his organs to be donated. Since then I've become absolutely adamant that when I die my organs are to be harvested for reuse. I've managed to convince several family members to sign consent forms for organ donation. Here in FL it's listed on your driver’s license. I think it's a shame that so many people die each year while waiting for transplants.
We've never made an attempt to find out how my Dad's organs were used, but I hope they were helpful to whoever got them.
My mom had a heart transplant 11 years ago. We were able to send thank you letters that were sent to the family but we do not know the specifics. I think she has gotten comfortable with the transplant over the years, but I do believe she thought alot about her recipient at the beginning,
my brother passed away last year and we VERY much wanted to be able to donate his organs, though because of some legal issues we were not able to. We were really disappointed. Just know that the gift you were given was very important and they wanted to give it or they would not have been a donor.
I have signed up to be an organ donor - as well, I donate blood on a regular basis. I'm thinking of donating marrow... But I will need to wait until my health improves drastically.
Last edited by tamaralynn; 01-04-2008 at 02:51 PM.
Anyone a donor recipient? (warning: may be macabre)
