DonateLife Week
Over 1100 Rotary Clubs across Australia are urging families to ‘have the chat’ about organ and tissue donation with their loved ones and register their donation decisions during DonateLife Week.
Rotary’s participation in DonateLife Week 2015 was prompted by the story of Jack Wilson, the grandson of one of the 21 Rotary District Governors in Australia. Jack was born with nephrotic syndrome, a congenital kidney disease which resulted in lengthy periods of hospitalisation.
Jack had to return to hospital initially five days per week for four hourly sessions of protein infusion, then moving onto 10 hours home dialysis every night. From three days after his birth in mid 2013 Jack had a tube protruding from his body – no bath, no beach, no pool - until finally at the age of 21 months, Jack’s life was transformed with the gift of a kidney transplant. Professor Jonathan Craig from Westmead Children’s Hospital Sydney said, “Australia is a world leader in organ and tissue transplants. But we depend entirely on the compassion of ordinary Australians who make a decision which enables us to change lives.”
“Except for kidneys and in rare cases partial livers, organs can only be transplanted after death. Only around one per cent of hospital deaths occur in the specific circumstances where organ donation is possible, although many more people can become tissue donors,”
“As an organ and tissue donor, you could transform the lives of 10 or more people. It’s important to go onto the internet and register your donation decision on the Australian Organ Donor Register and, most importantly, that you share your decision with those closest to you.
“To optimise every potential organ and tissue donor, we each need to have the chat with our family members so that we know each other’s donation decision. Having the chat can make a life-saving difference to people waiting for a transplant. It can be the difference between seeing and being blind, mobility and never walking again, In the same way that we discuss what we want to have happen in the event of our death, we also need to talk about whether we would like to become an organ and tissue donor. It’s a conversation we can have today, that helps prepare our loved ones should they be offered the opportunity to proceed with organ and tissue donation.”
In Australia, the family will always be asked to confirm the donation decision of their loved one before donation for transplantation can proceed. “Families that have discussed and know each other’s donation decisions are much more likely to support donation proceeding. This is a conversation that could one day save lives,”
DonateLife Week is Australia’s national awareness week to promote organ and tissue donation and is led by the Organ and Tissue Authority.
For more information, visit www.donatelife.gov.au
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