PSA: Donating

     Although I realize that we're already two weeks into the new year, I know that some people are still trying to finalize their resolutions for 2014. May I make a suggestion? Perhaps a way to help others that will also leave a lasting impact and probably improve your mood? Become a donor. Blood, bone marrow, organ... it's up to you, but consider literally giving a bit of yourself to help someone else. In this post, I'll list a few methods, with descriptions, and explain how to become such a donor, if you so choose. Consider it. 

Donate Blood

     This is probably the easiest, and most common, method of donating (at least when it comes to donating parts of yourself). There's a constant need for blood too, especially after a disaster. Typically blood donation is simple, easy, and relatively quick, yet very few people in the US actually do it. Here's some facts for you (all of which come from the official Red Cross website). Each day in the US there are over 41,000 blood transfusions, which means someone needs blood approximately every 2 seconds. Despite this great need, only 38% of everyone in the US is eligible to give blood (I'll get to that in a second), and less than 10% actually do. Each blood donation typically goes to three different patients, so if you donate just 6 times this year, you could help save the lives of 18 people! So by this point you may have some questions. The Red Cross has an entire page of FAQs that I'm linking to, but I have some quick answers. Firstly, not everyone is eligible to donate because donors must meet certain height, weight, and health criteria. There are also limitations based on where they have traveled or lived in the past, as well as lifestyle criteria pertaining to sexual conduct and drug use. All of these criteria can be found here. 
     The donation process itself is typically fairly quick. Any potential donors must answer some questions to prove their eligibility, and then a nurse will take them to a bed and begin the donation. All the donor has to do is lie there and squeeze a ball every few seconds (this helps the blood flow) for about 15 minutes (some people are slower or faster than others). I usually bring a book to read. Some people are turned away by a fear of needles, but as someone who used to be terrified of shots, I can really say that this a good way to help you overcome that fear. Besides, the prick in your finger to check your iron (too low and you can't donate), often hurts more than the actual needle for donation, and you don't have to watch the needle if you don't want to. When the donation is done, you get free snacks and drinks before you're sent on your merry way. Sometimes companies or radio stations will also team up with the Red Cross to provide other prizes for donors like T-shirts, coupons, or a free pound of Dunks coffee. There's really a lot more I could say about this, and I'm sure there are plenty of questions left unanswered, but if you're interested, I'd direct you to the Red Cross website. It will not only provide you with tons of information, but also help you find a place to donate. Check it out here: http://www.redcrossblood.org/

Donate Bone Marrow

     Another very important way to donate of yourself would be to become a bone marrow donor. Bone marrow donations are necessary when a patient's body no longer creates new blood cells, or at least does not create enough of them. This is commonly caused by blood cancer. In the US, a patient is diagnosed with blood cancer once every 4 minutes, and another patient dies of blood cancer once every 10 minutes (info found here). The tricky part with bone marrow transplants is that donors and patients must be very closely matched, much closer than a blood donor and their recipient. Often the family members of a patient who needs a bone marrow transplant will be tested, but sometimes none of them are a match. That's why there's the National Marrow Donor Program. Anyone willing to be a donor can enter the program and they will potentially be matched to a patient in the future. Entering the program is easy (they just need a swab of your inner cheek) and only 1 in 540 program members ever actually donate. Most are just never matched. The exact donation process differs depending on what is required. Most patients just need peripheral blood stem cells (PBSC) which will begin forming new blood cells in the patient. The donation process for that is very similar to giving blood. Some patients require bone marrow itself, and that is a more invasive procedure requiring a surgical withdrawal of liquid bone marrow from the pelvic bone, but anesthesia is always used and those donors are usually back to their usual activities within a week. Right now there is a great need for bone marrow donors, particularly those of ethnic minorities. It really takes no time to enter the registry, and while you may never be asked to donate, you can always spread the word, and if you do donate, you could radically improve someone's life. To get more information or to become a donor, go here: http://bethematch.org/

Donate Organs

      This method of donation will most likely (but not definitely) be used only after your death. Frankly, you don't need your body once you die, a statement I'm sure doesn't come as a shock to anyone. So if you don't need your body, and it won't hurt you at all to lose some parts once you die, why not sign up to be an organ donor? There are so many people waiting for a heart, a kidney, a liver, or other organs, and you can give it to them. In fact, your organs will likely be given to multiple people, not just one. Think of how many lives you can touch and improve through this one simple act! Also, organ donation doesn't have to wait until after death. If you so desire, you have a few organs you can donate right now. In fact, you could start a donor chain, like this guy. Often when someone needs an organ, like a kidney, their friends and family may be willing to donate, but aren't matches. A donor chain fixes this problem by saying that a stranger will donate an organ to Patient A if one of Patient A's loved ones donates an organ to a Patient B whose loved ones are also not a match. One of Patient B's loved ones then continues the chain by donating an organ to another patient. When Rick Ruzzamenti started a kidney chain in August 2011, the end result was an unbroken chain linking 60 people and providing 30 patients with kidneys. It only ended because the last kidney recipient's only living relatives were too old to donate. So if you want to be alive to see the results of your donation, this might be an option. Otherwise, you can always sign up to be an organ donor after death by going here: http://www.organdonor.gov/becomingdonor/

Donate Your Entire Body

    This last method has been particularly on my mind this week as classes resume. This semester we finally have a course on gross anatomy, including a cadaver lab. Tomorrow we begin dissections, starting with the head and neck. I think many of my fellow students are wondering if they will be able to handle dissecting a human body without passing out, but the one thing I know we are all feeling is a deep sense of gratitude to the donors and their families. They have given their bodies so that we may learn the intricacies of human anatomy and better care for our own future patients. This wasn't something they were paid to do, but something they chose to do. One of them even wrote my class a rather touching letter explaining her reasons. Now it is up to us to treat the donors with dignity and respect, and to make the most of their enormous gift to us. If you want to contribute to the future of medicine and give an extraordinary gift after your death, perhaps you should consider donating your body to a medical program. This would mean that your family could not give you a traditional burial, but most programs will cremate the remains of donors once dissections are done and return the ashes to the families. I don't have one easy link that explains the process for every school, hospital, or research center but if you have a place in mind (like an alma mater) you can often contact them directly, or this link provides some basic information:  http://www.retirement-living.com/how-to-join-body-donation-programs/

     I have one final note on both the organ and whole body donations. Some people may be interested in both and find it hard to choose between them. For those who feel that way, it is possible to do both. If you donate your body to a research center or hospital to be used specifically for research, then any viable organs can be removed and donated first. If this is your desire, then that should be made clear before your death. If you wish specifically to donate to a school however, it would not be possible to donate in both ways because medical programs require any whole body donations to be completely whole.