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What is organ donation?
Organ donation is one of the greatest gifts anyone could ever give. Transplantation gives someone the opportunity to live a normal and healthy life through the generous gifts of organ donors. By definition, organ donation is when a person willingly and legally consents to the removal of one or more of their organs. However, organ donation is much more than just a simple process and is used to impact the lives of millions every year.
How does the process of organ donation actually work?
Most people support the concept and principles of organ donation, but are uneducated about the process of organ donation and how to become a donor. The general process of organ donation is actually rather simple. When a person’s organ becomes damaged or fails, they are examined and placed on the national organ transplant waiting list. 
This nationally based system matches available organs from donors to people on the waiting list based on things such as blood type, tissue types, body size, donor distance, time on the list, and even how sick an organ recipient is. Factors such as race, religion, gender, or social status are never considered when determining an organ donation match. Today, there are over 116,000 people awaiting organ transplants on this list. Statistically, another person is added to the donor waiting list every ten minutes. Unfortunately, an average of 22 people a day and 8,000 people a year die awaiting these lifesaving transplants.
Once a match is made, the organ recipient is contacted and brought into the hospital to prepare for the transplant. Organs are recovered from donors in a quick time frame that still respects the donor and their loved ones. Organs are retrieved with care by skilled surgeons and transported to the different hospitals for transplantation. These transplants restore the lives of patients that may have had little chance of survival if it was not for the gracious gift of an organ donor. Organ donation allows patients to return to their normal life.
Who qualifies to be an organ donor?
Remarkably, only 3 out of every 1,000 people die in a way that makes them eligible to be organ donors. Registering now and informing your family of your decision saves them from being faced with making that decision in a time of grief, should that possibility ever arise. Most people are qualified to be a donor of some type, whether it be an organ, eye or tissue donor. All donors are evaluated to determine what may be donated. Organs that can be donated are kidneys, liver, lungs, heart, intestines and pancreas. Tissues that can be donated are veins, skin, tendons, heart valves, bones, and corneas. Kidneys, as well as portions of the liver, lungs, intestine, and pancreas, are all able to be donated from living donors. Over 30,000 transplants from 8,500 deceased and 6,000 living are performed each year in the United States. There are more than one million tissue transplants and 48,000 corneal transplants a year in the U.S. alone.
How can I become an organ donor?
The three main ways you can become an organ donor in Mississippi are to register online at donatelifems.org, register at a Mississippi Department of Public Safety examiner’s station when renewing a driver’s license, or to fill out a written form at a MORA registration table at an event such as a health fair or conference. In the state of Mississippi, you must be 18 to register to become an organ donor. A donor’s decision to donate will never interfere with their medical treatment. The first priority of all doctors is to save the life of their patient.
One organ donor can save 8 lives and impact the lives of 50 others. Organ donation continues to bless the lives of millions of people a year.
*All information has been provided by the Mississippi Organ Recovery Agency (MORA)
