This issue is very close to my heart. When I was 9, my father was diagnosed with kidney failure, and had to go on dialysis. It was grueling for him. It sapped most of his energy, and I watched my dad slowly get more and more tired as the weeks, months, and years progressed.

About a year after he started dialysis, I read an article in a magazine about a girl who donated one of her kidneys to her father. I was ecstatic! I knew we had the same blood type, so I rushed to my parents and informed them that I would give daddy one of my kidneys. They smiled and told me I was too young, and my kidneys were probably too small. (I later learned my dad probably wouldn't have let me donate one of my kidneys, anyway, out of love.) I didn't care! I would wait until I was old enough. Unfortunately, I was never given the chance to try. My daddy died when I was 12, due to complications related to his kidney failure.

I won't go into detail about how his death affected me, and my family. But I will say this. He had been listed on two kidney donor lists, in two different hospitals he went to. And he was on those lists for almost four years. He had a family to support, and even though most dialysis patients quit their jobs or switch to part-time due to lack of energy, he kept his full-time job to take care of us. He always made time for my brother and I, always trying to stay awake long enough so we could have quality time together. He was an amazing father, but he died before he could get a chance to take his life back and be healthy. He died before he could get a kidney.

Because of how deeply ingrained this issue is in my life, I will always be a vocal advocate of organ donation. There are many thousands of people who need organs, but the donor lists are far too short. The wait list is over three years long. The sad fact is, most people waiting for organs die while waiting. My father was not the only one.

Everyone has an ability to change that. There are many reasons to become an organ donor:

1. When you die, you have a chance to help someone else live. You have a chance to give them a better life, to give them health, and to give their families a chance at real happiness.

2. When you die, you don't need your organs anymore, anyway! Why keep them when somebody else does need them? The organs you no longer need could give someone else another chance at life.

3. It's easy. All you have to do, in most states, is inform your DMV that you want to be a donor, and they'll put a donor label on your driver's licence.

If you'd like more information about becoming a donor, here are some sites that can help:

organdonor.gov
shareyourlife.org

Please help. It's too late for my daddy, but it's not too late for someone else's.

Learn more about this author, L'emore.
Click here to send author comments or questions.

---

Add your voice

Know something about Getting a second chance at life: Organ and tissue transplants?
We want to hear your view. Write now!