Tuesday 19 April 2016

National Organ and Tissue Donation Awareness Week

It's National Organ and Tissue Donation Awareness week! As though there aren't enough weeks and days for everything. However, I just thought I would mention it even though I know all of you are already signed up to be organ donors...right....?

Go do that now.

Actually don't even do anything.

Just text your partner or parent or child that you want to be an organ donor if you happen to die tomorrow. 

That's literally all it takes.

Right now.

Do it.

While you wait to become an organ donor after you die, you can help out people now while you're living by donating blood and/or registering to be a stem cell transplant donor. Right here.  I've received so much blood over the past two years that I probably have bits of anyone who is type A in my blood stream.

Stem cell transplants are much more invasive but can literally save someone's life. It can be a cure (even though they don't say the 'cure' word around cancer) for someone with cancer. As someone with cancer, thankfully it hasn't gotten into my stem cell at this point but if it does, I may find myself needing someone's stem cells. So sign up! You may be the one to save my life!

Ok, now that's over with, here are a few fun facts from the Trillium Life Network:
  • There are currently 67 people waiting for a lung transplant in Toronto.
  • 21 of those people are type A. 
  • One person in Toronto is waiting for a lung and heart transplant.  
  • There were 28 lung transplants in Toronto during Jan and Feb this year. 
  • In 2015, there were 127 lung transplants done in Toronto. 
Drop those tidbits of information into a conversation this week.

And that's my spiel for the week. Donate things!! Harass your friends and family!

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