The giving tree

I came across a two-week old editorial this morning, of which I only read the title and the author’s name. And yet those two lines of text became, quickly, the genesis for today’s idea. The title read something like, “be an organ donor”. And the name read something like, “Jenny Suchandsuch”.

I started to realize that while I am perfectly comfortable with the idea of being an organ donor, I don’t know how to do that, nor have I taken any steps to make that the case.

And where I can with this space, I like to provide the means to accomplish the idea. So I went over to www.organdonor.gov and found these helpful steps:

1.Register with your state donor registry, if available.
2.Designate your decision on your driver’s license.
3.Sign a donor card and carry it with you. Cards are available at no cost at the HRSA Information Center.
4.Talk to your Family.
To help your family understand and carry out your wishes, sit down with your loved ones and tell them about your decision to be an organ and tissue donor. They can serve as your advocate and may be asked to give consent for donation or provide information to the transplant team.

Pay special attention to number four. You should probably be doing that anyway.

From what I understand, there is some moral debate about this issue. That’s for you and your compass, though. I did have a friend who, when asked why he didn’t want to donate blood, responded in a sing-song voice, “My blood.”

Go figure.