Signing an organ-donation card is a simple act of generosity that doesn鈥檛 come due until you are dead. Donating an organ while you鈥檙e still alive is another level of selflessness 鈥� and one that is badly needed.
Shawnigan Lake resident Audrey Schroeder, one of 409 on sa国际传媒鈥檚 waiting list as of June, is hoping that someone will have the compassion to give her the kidney she so desperately needs. Like the others, she could wait 10 years for a kidney from a cadaver, a long time for the 40-year-old who has suffered from kidney disease since she was 13.
A kidney from a live donor could shorten that wait and have a greater chance of success. Schroeder hopes to follow the example of Victoria鈥檚 Kevin Campbell, the second person in sa国际传媒 to successfully find a donor by using social media to find a donor who was a match.
Both donor and recipient can live healthy lives with only a single kidney. Someone who donates half their liver to another person takes advantage of the fact that the liver is the only human organ able to regenerate itself.
British Columbians are getting the message. Since 1999, the number of live kidney donations has consistently been greater than the number of donations from cadavers. But too many still wait. As of June, 40 are on the list for a liver transplant.
Donating a kidney or part of your liver takes courage, but the payoff is huge. You get to save a life.
