It was just a couple of a weeks ago that my friend went to sleep never to wake up again. Having died suddenly but peacefully, it was time for his wishes to be fulfilled. He had asked to be an organ donor and indicated his wishes with a little pink sticker on the back of his drivers licence. It was then that his family realised what this meant. While coping with the painful reality that he was not coming back, they also had to assign one full-time person to answer the incessant ringing of the phone from interested parties calling for his organs: everything from his eyes to his heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, pancreas; even his bones were in demand! After all, he had been a healthy, vibrant, energetic productive member of society just hours ago!
And today, I met another family whose son received a kidney-pancreas transplant 2 weeks ago. They were so pleased that after 5 years on dialysis and several false-alarm calls, they finally found a donor that miraculously "hit the spot". It was a near-perfect match and they felt like they had won the lottery! They were elated that their son did not have to be on dialysis any more!
Although I don't know if the organs their son received were ones whose original owner had been my friend or not, I could not help wonder if this transaction ( for lack of a better word) could have been a little more humane for the donor.
But then, he is the lucky one who gets to live on long after his death.
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