Who wouldn’t want a second chance at life?

NIAGARA VOICES

Imagine you’re in your early 40s and have been experiencing health problems for numerous years but no doctor can pin-point a diagnosis.

Then as years go by your symptoms worsen and become more debilitating, you’re bounced around to more specialists and eventually are diagnosed with an irreversible disease that’s now actively killing you.

Decades of living should be ahead of you; instead you’re told you have months to live, your only chance for survival is an organ transplant. Depending what organ it involves means you’re either waiting for a living match, or for someone to die, but not just anyone, someone who’s consented to having the same organ harvested.

And by the way, get in line because you’re not the only one waiting.

In fact, almost 1,600 Ontarians are on the waiting list and, sadly, every three days someone dies because they didn’t get a transplant in time (Trillium Gift of Life Network, 2017). This same scenario happened to a close family member of mine and she’s a lucky recipient thanks to an organ donor. Spin the roulette wheel; this could be you, your son, daughter, parent or friend, faced with such unexpected news and an uncertain outcome.

Too many Ontarians, including folks here in Niagara, have experienced the waiting list, who clutch to their phones each day in anticipation of ‘the call.’

Did you know, during the course of your lifetime you’re five times more likely to require a transplant than have the opportunity to donate one (BeAdonor.ca, 2017)? It’s an awkward wish to have, wanting the second chance at life at the cost of another’s possible misfortune. Donation is a personal decision and although 85 per cent of Ontarians are in support of it a mere one in four of us will register. Why is that?

I think in part it’s the ‘it won’thappen-to-me’ lenses too many of us look through. Worn throughout our youth, their magnification increases with age, and we continue to feel invincible until the unexpected pokes us in the face.

Upon your passing, this isn’t the situation you want to put your family in; trying to decide what your wishes would have been had you made your intensions clear beforehand. On the flip side, it’s not a free-for-all of your body parts either, only those which you’ve previously consented for and, if a match is established, which will be removed with the utmost sensitivity, respect and discretion.

April is Canada’s national Be a Donor month. The Trillium Gift of Life Network — an Ontario notfor-profit agency supporting tissue and organ donation and transplantation — feverishly advocates to raise awareness and encourage Ontarians to be heroes in their own capacity. In a few short weeks, by March 31 it hopes to have secured 254,000 new donor registrations, a campaign goal since April 1, 2016.

Knowing each donor alone can save up to eight lives, why are there still people waiting for transplants? Simply put, we need more registered donors to improve people’s

For more information

Trillium Gift of Life Network: www. giftoflife.on.ca/en Be a Donor: beadonor.ca chances of successful matches. If uncertainty has you sitting on the fence don’t let common misconceptions keep you there. Consider the following: • Age: The older you get doesn’t mean the less likely you can donate. The oldest organ donor was more than 90 years old;

• Religion: all major religions support organ and tissue donation, or respect an individual’s choice;

• Medical history: people with other illnesses are often still able to be donors;

• Funeral plans: organ donation takes about 24 to 36 hours to complete, so there’s no delay to funeral arrangements and an open casket is still often possible;

• Cost: there are no fees incurred by the donor’s family;

• Paper donor cards: are no longer in use. Registration is done through the Trillium Gift of Life It might divert them from their preferred processes, and it might not be popular. They might have to struggle with a population that can get cranky if people feel their generosity is being taken advantage of. They might need to enter negotiations with the provinces to co-ordinate their response, which has been suggested by Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister and isn’t a bad idea.

It’s a test both of the Liberals’ brave talk and their ability to deal with difficult and unanticipated problems.

If they ignore it, they run the risk of finding themselves in the same position now facing Merkel, forced into harsher measures by a swell of discontent created by a government unwilling to make proper preparations when it had the chance. Dithering isn’t a good strategy. It’s not recommended. Network website or in person at a ServiceOntario location.

Although science is gaining momentum in developing organs artificially and exploring tissue regeneration it’s not an exact science yet.

We’re on the cusp of incredible breakthroughs, but in the meantime the success in making matches depends on us everyday Canadians. Respectfully said and misconceptions aside, can anyone really be so selfish to intentionally deny others a second chance at life? I understand our freedom of choice and don’t begrudge anyone who feels differently; it’s just hard to understand another’s hesitation when it’s your loved one clutching the phone.

By March 31 will your name be one of the 254,000 Ontarians pledging to make a difference?

— Lindsay Bell is an innovative workplace wellness specialist and human resources professional, passionate about creating healthy and engaged workplaces, enabling organizations to optimize their best asset — their people. She can be reached at innovativehealthstrategies@gmail.com.