Transplantation of Organs

A transplant: Saving and Prolonging Lives

A transplant is a procedure in which an organ is removed from its original location and sent to a certain area of the body or an entirely different body. It is a well-known fact that anybody, regardless of medical condition or age, will donate an organ (Torr, 2003). This demonstrates how contentious the issue of any transplant can be. There is no different for organ transplants, which continue to be in high demand. Organ transplants will save and prolong the lives of countless people around the world by benefiting donors, patients, and their families.

Children Benefiting from Transplants

Children who were born with such medical problems benefit from transplants. This is because it gives them hope and a second chance to enjoy life like other children. A body organ which would have been wasted is used to improve the health of a child hence saving the child’s life. Most of the children who go through organ transplantation end up living pretty healthy lives. Amelia as a child was diagnosed with heart failure. When she was just about to give up on life, she was lucky to receive a heart transplant from an unknown person (Brezina, 2014). For her, it was like starting life afresh. That transplant helped her by giving her an opportunity to enjoy life like other healthy children.

A Long-lasting Legacy and Impact

Organ donation also leaves a long-lasting legacy and a powerful impact on both the donor and the recipient. This is because it is an opportunity to bring family members and friends close together by depending on each other for emotional strength. This can be illustrated by the story of Daisy who was suffering from a condition called brain aneurysm which made her brain dead (Strober, 2016). Fortunately, her family friends Franco and Rosa decided to donate the organs that were needed to make the transplant successful. After the organ transplant Daisy was grateful to have a healthy life. The impact of the transplant was that she would always owe her life to the family friends who saved her. The two family ties also became stronger which can be explained by the typical experience and emotional reliance on each other.

A Cost-effective Solution

Organ transplantation is sometimes considered cheaper than treatment. This is a fact, and it can be illustrated in cases of kidney transplants. Kidney transplants are more affordable compared to dialysis procedures needed to keep patients alive. This is because a kidney transplant is done only once while dialysis procedures have to be done consistently throughout the life of the patient. The accumulated costs of the many trips made by patients to the hospital for dialysis far outweigh the cost of performing a kidney transplant which only occurs once with a little follow up afterward. Therefore, an organ transplant can save on costs which can be used to improve on other aspects of the patient’s life.

Increased Life Expectancy

A transplant increases the life expectancy of the recipient. For instance, patients who are beneficiaries of kidney transplantation more livelong compared to those who depend on dialysis. A recipient would live for 10 to 16 years longer if he got a kidney transplant compared to if he depended on dialysis (Rana et al..., 2015). Patients who are undergoing dialysis are usually too weak and have to be watched carefully because dialysis is not the solution to kidney failure. Moreover, if the dialysis is not done consistently and follow-ups conducted on the patient, it could be fatal. This shows that organ transplant is better and if done successfully it would increase the life expectancy of a patient and this will enable them to be with their loved ones for more years to come.

A Source of Comfort and Overcoming Grief

Many people have also acknowledged that after the loss of their family members, they allowed donation of their organs. Such an act of kindness helps them in their time of grieving because of the comfort they get when they know that such a loss would not be futile. This happened to the family of Jake Houghton and Grace Houghton. Upon losing their son due to heart failure, they decided to donate his kidney to another child of the same age (Strober, 2016). The thought of the positive impact their family member had on other people is comforting amidst the grief. In such an instance the transplant was beneficial to the recipient in that it saved his life. It was also beneficial to the family of the donor because it helped them to overcome their grief.

Advancing Medical Research

Organ transplants have also contributed in many ways in the medical research field. Some people feel the obligation to help other human beings by any means. Donation of organs is the best expression of such a resolution. Some individuals state in their Will that upon their demise, some of their organs can be donated to medical institutions to benefit those who still have a chance at life. The organs that are not useful to the body of a particular recipient are stored in research facilities to help other transplant recipients in the future (Rana et al..., 2015). Therefore, organ transplants have helped the medical research field because it is now possible to research labs to determine the likely cure for various conditions that affect such organs.

Enhancing Quality of Life

It is also evident that transplants have led to an enhanced quality of people’s lives. A transplant can enable an individual to live without medication for the first time after being diagnosed. It can enable a person to be free from the expensive treatments that a sick person requires to have a decent quality of life. Such procedures are usually a massive burden in the long term especially to needy families because they sacrifice every other aspect of their lives to cater to the health of their loved ones. For example, bone marrow donation presents hope for children with leukemia. Such children live unenviable lives due to lack of willing donors. However, such transplants have become more common and more affordable nowadays which has helped immensely to enhance the quality of lives of such children.

Showing Generosity and Faith

In addition to the benefits of transplants, there are also various reasons why transplants are done. For instance, Christians encourage believers to be generous, and there are many ways to show generosity. Some members of the church may choose to show their kindness by volunteering to donate some of their organs to less fortunate individuals in the society. They can do this either as a living donor or a deceased donor. A living donor is the one who is still alive while a deceased donor the one who has passed on. This goes a long way to show that someone’s faith can be a significant factor when it comes to deciding organ transplantation.

Financial Benefits

Transplants are also done for a financial benefit at times. This is done mostly by people who are poor and need the money to accomplish other goals such as to achieve their educational dreams. Kidneys are usually in pairs hence they are the organs that are most commonly traded for a financial benefit. Most of these donors feel that they can live healthy lives with only one kidney thus they benefit by donating one of the pairs. Therefore, the financial benefit has become a significant motivator for needy individuals hence such acts have been on the rise lately among these people.

Creating Awareness and Future Benefits

In most countries in the world, NGO’s are creating awareness on the importance of organ transplantation. For instance, when a person donates an organ, they will be placed at the top of the recipient list if a time comes when they are in need of an organ transplant. This has encouraged many people to donate with the hope that they would benefit in the future if such a fate befalls them. However, statistics show that an average of 70% of these donors ends up living fairly normal lives without encountering problems as a result of the transplant (Brezina, 2014).

Conclusion

In conclusion, organ transplants can be beneficial to the donors, the recipients and their families to save and extend the lives of people around the world. This has been demonstrated clearly in that it has enhanced the quality of people’s lives, helped in medical research, reduced mortality rates and impacted positively on both the donor and the recipient among other benefits. If organ transplants are embraced by more people across the world, recipients will become donors and donors would become recipients. The overall effect of this cycle is that everyone will benefit from organ transplants and they would be put to optimal use. In the end, the world would be a beautiful place to live in.

References

Brezina, Corona. (2014). Organ Donation: Risks, Rewards, And Research. Rosen Publishing Group, Inc.

Rana, A., Gruessner, A., Agopian, V. G., Khalpey, Z., Riaz, I. B., Kaplan, B., ... & Gruessner, R. W. (2015). Survival benefit of solid-organ transplant in the United States. JAMA surgery, 150(3), 252-259.

Sinclair, D. B. (2003). Jewish Biomedical Law: Legal and extra-legal dimensions. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Strober, S. (2016). Use of hematopoietic cell transplants to achieve tolerance in patients with solid organ transplants. Blood, 18-22.

Torr, J. D. (2003). Organ transplants. San Diego: Greenhaven Press.