REGISTER AS AN ORGAN DONOR – BUT DON’T STOP THERE!

My family truly knows how organ donation is an incredible gift to one, yet such tremendous pain to another.

‘A year later, I got to write a letter to my donor’s family, one of the hardest things I have ever done. How do you thank someone for losing a loved one so that you can live? I told them how much I value this new life, how I work hard to look after this new body and make sure I do not waste this gift. And how I enjoy spending time with my beautiful family. I can drive my daughter to school, cheer alongside the hockey field, go for a walk with

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my family – all things I couldn’t do before. I will never take these small joys for granted – and I will always do them in honour of my organ donor. She is my hero.

‘I also try to give back by creating awareness of organ and tissue donation and by fundraising for the Groote Schuur Lung Transplant Unit so that others can also receive this incredible gift of life.’ ❖

If you’d like to be considered as an organ or tissue donor, start by registering with the Organ Donor Foundation (odf.org.za). The process is free of charge and takes just a minute or two of your time – all you’ll have to provide is your name, ID number and contact information. There are no blood tests or medical procedures of any kind involved. Once you have registered, you will be sent a sticker to stick onto your driver’s licence or identity document, indicating that you are an organ donor.

BUT… Just registering with the ODF is not enough! When a person passes away, it is their family members who ultimately make the decision to allow their organs to be donated. Without their consent a donation cannot happen, even if you were registered with the ODF, and even if you had written it into your will. If you genuinely want to be an organ donor, it is essential to tell your loved ones that you have registered, that it is your wish to be considered as a donor, and that if they are asked to donate your organs one day, they should confidently say yes.

Having this conversation may seem difficult, but it is far easier to discuss your wishes while you are in good health than to expect them to make a decision on their own at a time of extreme grief and stress.

Five years post-op a patient is medically classified as a successful transplant recipient. To mark the occasion, Tanya got a tattoo of an image that symbolises the new life her donor lungs have given her. Tanya’s necklace – an image of her new lungs with her transplant date engraved on it – was a gift made by Carol Calligaro, the wife of her pulmonologist, Dr Greg Calligaro, who saw her through her transplant and recovery.