Organ Donation

Organ Donation

4/26/2012

It is so paradoxical that 13% of all transplant recipients are of “latino” origin, 65% of those will be kidney recipients, 13.5% of the donors altogether are of “latino” origin. To this day, I see that unless it touches someone really close to one, not many people think of organ donation. Some think that if they are organ donors, the efforts to help them during an emergency would be less. Nope! I am not exaggerating!

When I was in my very early twenties, as a bank teller in Massachusetts, I saw many state identification cards with the little logo in the corner. “Oh! That's nice!” - was as far as I went. Little did I know that eventually I would personally benefit from the fact that someone made the choice to be an organ donor. I needed skin to cover a huge hole in my abdomen when my body rejected three artificial meshes that had been used on me (and they waited to long to remove!). I am eternally grateful to that person that was so unselfish and wanted to make a difference in someone's life. Well, it definitely made a difference in mine!

That was only the beginning of the importance that organ donation would have in my life. When my beautiful and loving godchild became gravely ill with a rare genetic disorder, we prayed and we prayed hard, because we needed a heart and a kidney. As she became weaker, the Specialists concentrated on at least getting a heart; the kidney was not even mentioned.

My Strawberry Princess left us at barely twenty years old. There was not a compatible heart for her, so instead she flew to join our Creator.

I may not be the healthiest chicken in the coup, but I am an organ donor. My skin, the largest organ in the human body, can help many! My Strawberry Princess became a donor herself. Today, because of that, two people can see.

I wanted to write about this subject for some time now, and today is the best day, as “La Prima”, Shihan Candy Warixi Soto, whose origins are from Puerto Real, Cabo Rojo, is making a mother's plea for a Kidney donor for her son, Jason Calderón in New York.

Should you be that person who is willing to donate a kidney or know someone who is, please contact the Montefiore Kidney Transplant Program at 1-877-CURE-KDNY (1-877-287-3536), and tell them you want to donate it for Jason Calderón.

I urge you to share this information with your friends and family and let's all keep Jason in our prayers, as well as that person who will make the choice to donate the kidney.

Tai Pelli