Family member and organ donation

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mommy_k

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I just picked up the phone from another organ donation bank that my college age child registered with-this was for bone marrow.

They have already signed up with the kidney registry and have given blood many times.
They have an organ donation card and it is specified on the drivers license.

My first question is-is this ok with the church?
My second question is how to I tell my child that the intention is good, but you may need all of some organs and to please stop?

I already spoke a few times when my child donated blood in high school without my knowledge. It is a good cause I understand, and my child wants to help sick people. But I am uncomfortable with this.

Thank you!
 
As far as I know they church is ok with this, and I would encourage it! Especially giving blood. And organs aren’t taken until someone has passed, so the idea of “they may need it” is not something I am understanding. Unless you are talking about them donating one of their kidneys now.

Anyway, maybe someone more knowledgeable can answer. I’m sorry you feel uncomfortable about it. 😦
 
Your raised a child with a kind, giving heart who is now an adult and chooses to give blood and be a bone marrow donor.

Yes, it is fine with the Church, and as for telling him to stop, you really can’t. He is an adult. It doesn’t really matter whether you are comfortable with it or not. I understand your concern, but really no medical professional is going to take “all” his organs unless he is deceased.
 
Please encourage your child to give blood – each pint of blood saves up to three lives. Blood products can’t be manufactured; donation is an incredibly sacrificial and live giving act.

The only organs your child could potentially donate during his/ her life would be a kidney or piece of liver. Typically, that would only be done for a close family member.

Bone marrow and blood regenerate (liver too!) so you needn’t be concerned about these being something your child would “need” in the future.

Please thank your child for his/ her blood donation for me. Our oldest nephew required numerous transfusions during chemotherapy. Each time he had a transfusion he was a new kiddo. One evening he couldn’t even walk across the room, he was pale with huge purple circles under his eyes and was so, so fatigued. He needed two pints. Half a pint in, his color was back, circles were gone. After two, he was energetic. I am forever and eternally grateful for every person who donates.
 
😦 My husband is a cancer survivor. If he relapses, and unfortunately, he has a 60% chance of doing so in the first 2 years of remission, he will need someone like your child to donate bone marrow-or he will die. Did you read that correctly? Without selfless people like your child, I would have a 60% chance of becoming a widow before my 30th birthday. My in-laws would lose their son and brother. My husband would suffer for months before finally dying at a young age-before ever even getting to start a family.

What problem could you possibly have with it? I’m on the registry. After spending so much time in the oncology ward and seeing what so many people and families go through because of leukemia and lymphoma, it was a no-brainer for me. We were lucky that he only needed chemo and not radiation and a transplant. But if he relapses, they will do all three.
 
Thank you for your replies, and yes I completely understand donating blood, and I am happy they give each time.

What concerns me- I am certain that they would donate a kidney if someone needed it and there was a match-then that’s one kidney left forever.

I am also concerned about infections, and the procedures that are involved with bone marrow.

I would be overjoyed if there weren’t any rIsks involved.
 
mommy_k said:
Thank you for your replies, and yes I completely understand donating blood, and I am happy they give each time.

What concerns me- I am certain that they would donate a kidney if someone needed it and there was a match-then that’s one kidney left forever.

I am also concerned about infections, and the procedures that are involved with bone marrow.

I would be overjoyed if there weren’t any rIsks involved.
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NO ONE is immune from disease and cancer. The rates of blood cancers are much higher than the risks associated with bone marrow donation. Your children are more likely to get one of those illnesses than suffer negative consequences from bone marrow donation. The risks associated with the procedure are very rare and can be easily treated.

If it was your child that got cancer, what would you say to the mother of the person that could SAVE YOUR CHILD’S LIFE if she tried to talk her kid out of doing so with these arguments about tiny risks of easily managed complications?

When someone is called upon to donate bone marrow, it is because there is already a patient in need that the donor matches. It does not just sit in a bank. This saves lives.

Do a google search. I can find one story of serious complications, but no donor death has ever occurred. Thousands of people die every year waiting for bone marrow.
 
I hope I can put your mind at ease. I am a bone marrow/ blood ste cell donor. About 14 years ago I was put on the registry and soon after I got a call to donate! The patient was a 16 year old boy with AML leukemia. The procedure was explained to me as follows… A large bore needle with a “drill” is inserted into your illiac crest (hip bone) then a canual is inserted and the bone marrow is extracted. It takes no longer than an hour. I was also given the option of having a spinal or general anesthesia. I said do whatever you want just nock me out! Fortunately I didn’t have to donate because he was doing better on whatever meds he was on.
About 5 years ago I got the call to donate blood stem cells for a lady that had non- Hodgkin’s lymphoma. I went to Washington DC and received a shot (I forget the name) that made my body make more blood stem cells. After a few days they retrieved the stem cells by hooking me up to a machine that looked like a dialysis machine. I am in contact with the female recipient. Its an awesome feeling knowing that you helped someone out!
As far as the kidney donation is concerned if a person is a living donor and something happens to the non donated kidney they are put at the top of the UNOS list. I don’t know how often it happens…I’m sure you could look up those stats.
Through out the entire donation process I was asked if I wanted to go through it. For me the answer was always “No is not an option”. I looked at it this way if I got an infection or died because of this then my life meant something. I fufiled God’s plan for me.
 
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