October, 2000

Health Issues

Topics

Just A Thought By Staff Writer Sharon Barrett What value do you place on yourself? Do you love your self? Or do you feel less then human? Are you feeling like the world would be better off with out you? God does not make junk! Nor is He honored when you feel this way. Has the world's weight pressed you so far down that you feel you will never get up? Has someone told you to pick yourself up by the boot straps and keep going? All worldly things are they not? Why not take a moment to help someone else pick themselves up. Sometimes all it can be is a smile, or a handshake, or a word of kindness. Won't you take that special moment and make a difference, it will bring glory to the Lord... and you will find you've picked yourself up along with that other needy soul! "Without God, life is a journey through a desert without water."

Cover Page Christian Comedy Education Essays, Etc. Health Home Letters Marriage Parenting Poetry/Art Stewardship Sites to See Work Extra

Angels Alternatives is a newsletter that deals with alternative medicine and modalities. We try and present special subject matter each month, as our way of EMPOWERING folks to make better healthcare choices. We have a great lists of doctors and attorneys, who are our content providers. We also try and provide research links for your viewing pleasure, on subjects that are not covered in the newsletter. Please join us and EMPOWER yourselves to make better healthcare choices... Angls4Hope@aol.com subject=SUBSCRIBE

Brian Wanted to Be an Organ Donor

Nineteen year old Brian Matthew Deboer went home to the Lord April 23, 2000. He was a regular visitor to ionanet's pages and enjoyed reading Handmaidens - almost a third of our readers are men. Brian served the Lord in many ways and in his death, he has blessed so many with life... I share here a few notes from his web site....

Here is some information on the recipients of Brian's organs. His heart went to a married man who lives in Los Angeles. He recovered so well from the transplant, that he went home from the hospital eight days after his surgery. The liver recipient was a Southern California business student at a local college. The liver has excellent function. A thirty-year-old married homemaker, the mother of one child, received the right kidney. She lives n the Inland Empire. The left kidney was transplanted into a six year old boy who had been on dialysis nearly all his life. He lives in Los Angeles with his parents and two siblings. Both kidneys are functioning very well and neither recipient requires dialysis treatments any longrer The pancreas was also recovered, and the insullin producing cells will be isolated and pooled with other donated cells for transplantation into a person suffering from diabetes. The corneas were recovered and will be transplanted to restore sight to two people. Bone was recovered and will be banked for use in reconstructive surgeries, and a thin layer of skin was recovered and sent to UC San Diego, to be used as temporary dressings for burn victims.

**UPDATE** There is now a 51-year old woman in Fontana that has been given the beautiful gift of Brian's sight!

As many as fifty people who have suffered traumatic injuries, degenerative disease or cancerous tumors will be helped by the use of his bone and tendons.

**UPDATE** We have recieved a letter from the gentleman who received Brian's heart. He had been on the UCLA heart transplant list for one year and nine months. Everything is going very well with him.

Be a partner.... Join the national community of organ and tissue sharing!
If you'd like more information, just search under "organ donors", there are many sites to choose from.

FRIENDS AND FAMILY OF ORGAN DONORS
If you see someone wearing a green ribbon pin, that represents that they are a friend or family member of someone who has donated their organs.

Giving in the Midst of Grieving

Chances are you have lost a loved one at some point in your life. If not, this is a future reality you will no doubt someday face.... And when the time comes, you will be numbed with grief and disbelief. Even as believers, we all face that empty, deadened feeling when one we love leaves this earth. It seems this is a most unlikely time to make tough decisions, but many face us nonetheless.

Under the law, surviving family members are to be offered the option of donating tissues and organs from their beloved departed for transplant. Sadly, most decline even though under different circumstances and with more time for thought, they might well have opted to offer hope to someone else's dying loved one.

I have a friend who needs a kidney. She's a bright and dedicated servant of the Lord who has spent her life and energies helping troubled teens. Now, she has had to cut back on her work load because her kidneys are failing. Although on the waiting list, she is told there could be a three to four year wait... or she may not get a kidney at all.

My friend is but one of many thousands who wait in silent suffering as their condition worsens day by day... And how sad the fact that many will die waiting! God has provided the skill and technology to successfully transplant organs and tissues so that one life lost may be renewed through as many as 50 lives saved!

I believe, we, as Christians, are especially called to the compassionate care of others when the means is at our disposal... and in this case, we do have the means! If you have not already done so, prayerfully consider filling out an organ donor card, talking with your family about your wishes to contribute to the hope and lives of others when yours cannot be saved. Also, spend time with all your family discussing the fact that when the time comes, organ and tissue donation will be the choice you all make.

Sign the Donor Card Below in Your Family's Presence

By completing the donor card below in the presence of your family and having them sign as witnesses, you'll know they support your wishes.  The donor card serves as a reminder to your family and medical staff.  Carry it in your wallet or purse at all times.  Print extra cards to help encourage others to share life.

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History and Information about Organ and Tissue Donation

In 1968, the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act (UAGA) was established in all 50 states. This act allows that, at the time of death, organs such as a liver or kidney may be offered for donation by the donor or the next closest kin. It is important for everyone to communicate his/her wishes regarding organ donation to the family. In the event of death, it is the family who must sign for consent for organ donation. A signed donor card alone may not be acceptable as formal consent for donation of organs.

In addition to the UAGA, the National Organ Transplant Act directed the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to establish a task force on Organ Transplantation. One of the findings of the task force was that many families were not offered the option of organ donation at the time of their loved one’s death. As a result, most state legislatures have passed "required request" laws. The laws in each state vary somewhat, but generally any family member of a potential organ donor must be asked if he or she wants to make an anatomical gift.

In 1986, the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) was awarded the government contract for a national sharing system. UNOS assists the organ procurement organizations (OPOs) with matching and distributing donated organs. UNOS also maintains a national list of people in need of organ transplants.

The responsibilities of OPOs include the coordination, retrieval and distribution of organs available in their region. The coordinator is notified by a hospital of a potential donor. The coordinator will meet with the family of the donor, obtain signed consent for organ and/or tissue donation, notify the transplant center(s) of organs available for donation, and coordinate the surgical team in removal of donated organs. Prior to removal of the organs, an extensive evaluation of the donor is completed. Screening for diseases, infection, or abnormalities of the donated organs is done. Every effort is made to assure that the organs used for transplant are normal and healthy.

Organ donors are usually victims of an accident resulting in an injury to the head whereby the patient is declared brain-dead. The declaration of brain death means that all activity in the brain has stopped and none of the damage to the brain is reversible. If consent for organ donation is given, the donor’s blood pressure is maintained by artificial means until the surgical team arrives to remove the organs. They are removed by sterile surgical procedure in the operating room.

Once the organs are removed, they are flushed with a special solution that helps preserve them until they are transplanted. After flushing, they are placed in sterile bags in a cooler with ice and transported to the center in which the transplant surgery will take place.

Facts and Figures about Organ and Tissue Donation

Did you know……….?

Today, there are more than 71,000 Americans on the national organ transplant waiting list.

A new name is added to the waiting list every 18 minutes, 29,000 new patients are added to the waiting list for organ transplants each year. That’s 2,400 new patients waiting every month.

Every year, an estimated 4,000 die while waiting for organ transplants; 10 people die each day waiting for organs.

25 different organs and tissues can be transplanted including liver, kidney, pancreas, heart, lungs, intestine, corneas, bone marrow, bone and cartilage.

In 1986, 4,000 people donated organs after death. In 1998 5,799 people donated…. An average increase of less than 175 donors per year.

Nine out of 10 people in this country support the concept of organ donation, yet organs are donated less than one-third of the time.

One individual donor can provide organs, bone and tissue for 50 or more people in need.

More than 60% of all organ transplant recipients are between the ages of 18 and 49.

Transplant recipients can be organ and tissue donors too.

Under federal and state laws, organ and tissue donation is the right of every American age 18 and older. Hospitals are obligated, by law, to identify potential donors and to inform families of their right to donate.

Politics (and misinformation) clouding organ donor solution
Denver Post; Denver, Colo.; Aug 23, 1998
Michael Wachs GUEST COLUMNIST;

A debate has flared up between the federal government and health- care professionals over how to allocate precious organs to Americans awaiting transplants. That such a matter of life and death has come down to politics is obscuring a simple way out of a growing crisis.

In the United States today, more than 60,000 people are waiting for organ transplants, up 28 percent in two years. As many as 4,000 are expected to die waiting in 1998. In the Rocky Mountain region, nearly 800 patients are on the waiting list. Not enough people donate their organs after they die. Last year, Colorado and Wyoming had fewer than 100 donors.

A newly announced federal plan to issue new regulations that would give organs to the sickest patients nationally rather than locally, however, has stirred controversy. Critics fear the new system would shift transplants to a half-dozen or so surgical centers, forcing patients to travel greater distances, making it harder for poor patients to get transplants.

Meanwhile, there is a far better solution. We simply have to change public behavior and get more donors.

Two facts are important: Misinformation is the biggest obstacle to donations, and many people are unaware of how donation eases the pain of death.

For surviving family members, organ and tissue donation is often the only comfort during an otherwise devastating loss. In my five years as an organ transplant surgeon, I have met dozens of donor families. Virtually every one spoke of the pleasure of knowing that other humans live on because of their loved ones' gifts. No one knows this better than my friend pediatrician John Moyer of Evergreen. In 1992, John and Margaret Moyer lost their 23-year-old son, Andy, to a skiing accident. Although Andy had never discussed donation with his parents, they decided to give his organs and tissues. The Moyers since have come to know three of the recipients, all of whom enjoy full lives today.

"The grief never ends," Dr. Moyer says more than five years later. "But knowing that the lives of the recipients and their families moved forward gives us great comfort."

Perhaps more grieving families would donate organs if they knew the facts:

Organ and tissue transplantation is an accepted medical practice and insurance regularly covers the costs. Lately, results have been better than ever. And in certain cases, such as kidney disease, transplantation is cheaper than years of dialysis. About 500,000 Americans receive transplants each year.

No one's life is ended prematurely so his or her organs can be taken. If anything, physicians are overly cautious in declaring death before allowing organs and tissues to be recovered.

The host body is not disfigured. Specialists utilize the precise techniques used in any other surgery. Family members cannot detect any difference.

No major religion disapproves of organ and tissue donations. Donation is accepted by virtually all major faiths.

Permitting donation costs nothing. A donor family has no financial obligation. Meanwhile, thousands die as the nation scrambles to solve the organ shortage.

The type of medicine I practice has an unusually large number of highs and lows. Lows come from watching a patient die waiting. Highs stem from watching the life-saving outcome of transplantation.

I hope for one positive result of the national debate: By focusing attention on this issue, more Americans will learn about donation so that one day soon we all can see the highs vastly outnumbering the lows.

Dr. Michael Wachs is organ medical director of Donor Alliance, a Denver-based, nonprofit organization that facilitates the donation and recovery of organs and tissues in Colorado and Wyoming.

You'll Find Jesus There
Submitted by Sandy Uhler

"Tomorrow morning," the surgeon began, "I'll open up your heart..."

"You'll find Jesus there," the boy interrupted.

The surgeon looked up, annoyed. "I'll cut your heart open," he continued, "to see how much damage has been done..."
"But when you open up my heart, you'll find Jesus in there."

The surgeon looked to the parents, who sat quietly. "When I see how much damage has been done, I'll sew your heart and chest back up and I'll plan what to do next."

"But you'll find Jesus in my heart. The Bible says He lives there. The hymns all say He lives there. You'll find Him in my heart."

The surgeon had had enough. "I'll tell you what I'll find in your heart. I'll find damaged muscle, low blood supply, and weakened vessels. And I'll find out if I can make you well."

"You'll find Jesus there too. He lives there."

The surgeon left. The surgeon sat in his office, recording his notes from the surgery, "...damaged aorta, damaged pulmonary vein, widespread muscle degeneration. No hope for transplant, no hope for cure. Therapy: painkillers and bedrest. Prognosis:," here he paused, "death within one year."

He stopped the recorder, but there was more to be said.

"Why?" he asked aloud. "Why did You do this? You've put him here; You've put him in this pain; and You've cursed him to an early death. Why?"

The Lord answered and said, "The boy, My lamb, was not meant for your flock for long, for he is a part of My flock, and will forever be. Here, in My flock, he will feel no pain, and will be comforted as you cannot imagine. His parents will one day join him here, and they will know peace, and My flock will continue to grow."

The surgeon's tears were hot, but his anger was hotter. "You created that boy, and You created that heart. He'll be dead in months. Why?"

The Lord answered, "The boy, My lamb, shall return to My flock, for he has done his duty: I did not put My lamb with your flock to lose him, but to retrieve another lost lamb."

The surgeon wept.

The surgeon sat beside the boy's bed; the boy's parents sat across from him.

The boy awoke and whispered, "Did you cut open my heart?"

"Yes," said the surgeon.

"What did you find?" asked the boy.

"I found Jesus there," said the surgeon.

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