[Anonymous June 28, 1998 at 3:00 am Post count: 93172]

#1050441

Does anyone know if having Graves’ affects ones ability to be an organ donor?

[Anonymous June 29, 1998 at 10:00 am Post count: 93172]

#1149287

Cindy,

This may open a bag of worms since we have had MAJOR discussions on Blood
donations let alone organs. I am an organ donor. I have a living will that
states when the lights go out and I have crossed the lake of the wounded,
take everything you need to help others. If they give anything back to my
wife bigger than a postage stamp I told the doctor’s I will come back to haunt
them.

If my eye’s can help someone see, DO IT! If my kidneys can help someone
to live a better life, Take them! If my bones can be used for grafts so a kid
can run and play, Graft them. If my skin can be used to help a burn victem, by
all means give it to them.

IF they won’t take my organ’s or other parts I will go back to the earth to
nutrients to other living things. The circle of life will continue.

Live well, Love much, and Grandfather’s Blessings
Jake (Achgook)

[Anonymous June 29, 1998 at 12:30 pm Post count: 93172]

#1149288

HI Jake,
I couldn’t agree with you more, I too am an organ donor and feel I wouldn’t need to take these parts with me, its sorta like just my vehicle while I am here, (not to sound cold) but why would we want them after we are gone we certainly can’t use them and if it could save someone else I feel that is wonderful.
Sorry about your pets keep us informed they are great stress relievers and they also love uncondional.
Blessings Sally

[Anonymous June 29, 1998 at 7:04 pm Post count: 93172]

#1149289

I too plan on being an organ donor, and now that I’m off my meds, back to being a blood donor
as soon as I can after Sept and my next blood test to see how I’m doing (and if I can get an answer from the blood bank if it is okay).
For the organ donation I keep a card that the state provided (and I just looked at the date on it, signed
in 1984) and a notation on my drivers license and will update it in Aug when I go to
renew. I also keep a “Dear Ann Landers” column clipped to it, it was just reprinted in her
column this last weekend. It says everything I want to say about donation. The original copy
I clipped out of the paper is worn out and lamenated, so I also keep a typewritten
copy. I copied the column here. Warning, this piece has me in tears every time I read it,
but it is so beautiful I just had to share it.

---

To remember me

The day will come when my body will lie upon a
white sheet neatly tucked under at the corners of
a hospital bed located in a hosptial busily
occupied with the living and the dying. At a certain
moment a doctor will determine that my brain has ceased
to function and that for all practical purposed,
my life has stopped.

When that happens, do not attempt to instill
artificial life into my body by the use of a machine.
And don’t call this my deathbed. Let it be called
the Bed of Life, and let my body be taken from it
to help others lead fuller lives.

Give my sight to the man who has never seen a sunrise,
a baby’s face or love in the eyes of a woman. Give
my heart to a person whose own heart has caused nothing
but endless days of pain. Give my blood to the
teenager who was pulled from the wreakage of his car,
so he might live to see his grandchildren play. Give
my kidneys to one who depends on a machine to exist
from week to week. Take my bones, every nerve and
muscle in my body and find a way to make a crippled
child walk.

Explore every corner of may brain. Take every cell,
if necessary, and let them grow so that, someday,
a speechless boy will shout at the crack of a bat
and a deaf girl will hear the sound of rain against
her window.

Burn what is left of me and scatter my ashes to the
winds to help the flowers grow.

If you must bury something, let it be my faults, my
weaknesses and all prejudice against my fellow man.

Give my sins to the devil; give my soul to God.

If, by chance, you wish to remember me, do it with
a kind deed or word to someone who needs you. If you
do all I have asked, I will live forever.

Robert N Test

[Anonymous June 30, 1998 at 12:22 am Post count: 93172]

#1149290

Jake,
I’m with you guy. I am an organ donor also and give blood whenever I can .When I die whatever of my body they can use to help someone else they can have. Its a shame that there are not more donors out there.
Ree

[Anonymous July 1, 1998 at 8:32 am Post count: 93172]

#1149291

Hi Cindy,

Good Question! I found this magazine (when I was cleaning
out the closet the other day) called the Marrow Messenger.
I had given a test blood sample back in 96 during one of
their donation drives. I know I had to tell them at that
time that I had Graves’ Disease. So I called them up and the
girl said that I was still in their system. As I explained
why I was calling, that I have GD and was wondering about
organ donations, she said that I would be pulled from their
system as deferred due to having the immune disease. I will
be getting a letter about this from them.

I checked out their web site, http://www.marrow.org and I
didn’t see any data stating that having GD would be a reason
not to donate. So I called another number and the man said
that their web site is still getting updated and he would
mention what we discussed about having GD not and being able
to donate. He then gave me another web site that they use,
http://www.bmtinfo.org So I looked around in there and I
still did not see anything about having an immune disease
and not being able to donate. It was a neat web site!

I will just have to wait for my letter indicating deferal.
Guess when I go everything will go with me! Well, it was
the thought that counted. Right?

Michele B.

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