I know I haven't been here for awhile but I'm back now and I just wanted to bring up something important. At the end of February my oldest brother Lauchie (33 years old, loving husband and father to a wonderful 18 mos girl) was killed in a work-related car accident. He was the passenger in a car that was rear-ended by a bus. Something in the back of the car hit him in the head. A short time later he was declared brain dead (thankfully, the driver and my brother's apprentice, only suffered a few bruises). Fortunately Lauchie had always been very open about organ donation. We all knew he wanted to be a donor so when the time came to sign papers and discuss it we, wife, parents, siblings, were all on the same page and could support one another rather then argue or agonize over the issue. Geez, it is hard to type this...He really should not be dead... I want to remind all of you who are on the fence about organ donation to give it serious thought, make a firm choice and talk about it with your family so that an absolutely horrible time can be made just a bit easier. I'm on the side of donation myself so I'd urge you to do that but if there are reasons you don't want to then make sure your family knows that too. One of the gifts Lauchie gave us was making his wishes so clear that we could use the time in the hospital to support each other, tell stories, even laugh instead of worry about choices we should not have had to. Another was knowing that his gift made a difference in the lives of 6 people. Knowing that was more healing then I would have guessed. So decide and talk about it. Not for you or for the people that might benefit from the organs, just for the family left behind that will be hurt, lost and completely disoriented.
dawn, I am so sorry about your brother. Handsome and I are both donors. We have it in our will/trust/testament that we are to be donors. My sister is in charge of my medical treatment should Handsome pass away before me. She has the paperwork showing that I am a donor. The same goes for Handsome, but our oldest daughter is taking care of his medical treatment should I pass before him. We are also registered on a donor list, so if our family is not present at the time of our departure, all the doctor has to do is check the list and our named will show that we are registered to donate all that is able to be donated. Thanks for starting this thread. Again, I am deeply sorry for your loss.:love:
I am so sorry for your loss. I lost my father in October and miss him everyday. I plan to donate my organs as well. Then I want to be creamated. My mother does not understand why but my husband does and will respect my wishes. In January my mother had a cornea transplant. If not for the donor she would be blind in one eye right now and the other eye would just slowly deteriorate. Again I am sorry for your loss and understand the pain of loosing a loved one. It will slowly get better but never go away. Thank you for bringing this topic to light.
((hugs)) Dawn. I'm so sorry that you all had to go through this. Organ donation is very important to us.. and everyone knows it. Another thing that is imortant to decide on and talk about with your family is a Living Will.. what you want or don't want given you are not able to decide when it comes to life support. My hubby and I discuss this all the time, and our families know our wishes as well.. but it's best to have it in writing (our hospital and DR have copies of our wishes on file).
Dawn, I am so very sorry for your loss. Thank you for reminding us all, not just about the importance of being an organ donor; but also the reminder of how important it is to make sure our loved ones know our wishes concerning being a donor. [QUOTE: crazymama] Another thing that is imortant to decide on and talk about with your family is a Living Will.. what you want or don't want given you are not able to decide when it comes to life support. My hubby and I discuss this all the time, and our families know our wishes as well.. but it's best to have it in writing (our hospital and DR have copies of our wishes on file). Sommer, thank you, too for the reminder about living wills. This is also such an important thing to do for your family, as we have learned this week. My MIL is basically on her death bed. Because Nana has never made a living will, nor has she made her wishes known concerning life support, her children are now in the agonizing position of having to make that decision for her. So thank you both for two very important reminders, and again Dawn I'm sorry for your loss.
Oh my, I am so very truly sorry for your loss. I do not mean to visit a painful issue for you. But wanted to share if I might, that my family is on the side of having been on the recipient side of the selfless gift of organ donation. At the age of 2 years old our older dd went into liver failure after a routine vaccination. Within 6 weeks she was dying of liver failure. She was 4 hours away from receiving a portion of my dh's liver when a donor came through for her. We thank our donor family each night in our prayers and will never forget that as we celebrate our dd's life, that another family mourns the loss of their own child. My entire family are organ donors as well as many strangers who had been impacted after reading about my dd in the Wallstreet Journal and seen her on the news. Again my thoughts are with your family. And I thank you and your family for respecting the wishes of your brother. He is a hero.
I am so sorry for your loss. Freddy and I are donors too. You reminded me again how important it is that our children and family members know our wishes.
I am so sorry for your loss. but thank you for sharing this with us. It is stories like this that make me a believer in organ donation. to know that it has been a comfort to you in some small way makes me more sure than ever that I made the right decision to become a donor.
Thanks everyone for reading this. And thank you for the stories you shared related to organ donation/
I'm so sorry for your loss. How sad. But at the same time, a time to rejoice for 6 families who were impacted by your brother's generosity. I am a registered donor. I made sure it even says so on my State ID in case time is a factor.
God bless, and I hope that the comfort in knowing what your brother did for 6 other families will bring continued comfort to you. I have filled and signed the back of my drivers license to donate my organs. I also have spoken with my family about my wishes regarding this, and if I am on life support. I will urge everyone to get it in writing. I know my husband will ignore my wishes and hang on. He has told me this. I am putting it in writing and giving both my DDs a copy. I let him know, but he is not happy about it. I just want to avoid him arguing with my children and hard feelings developing. It's better he places the blame on me.
