Latin American woman needs stem cells
Passing this along as a public service: a woman of Latin American descent is in need of a compatible stem cell donor, as none of her family members is a match. Donors need to be aged 18 to 35 and of similar ancestry.
Michael Black 13:40 on 2019-11-07 Permalink
And somewhat related, people should sign the back of their Medicare card about organ donation. This is about once your dead, so no need to worry about live transplants, but some people wait a long time for an organ, sometimes too long. It was a drag having dialysis three times a week (about five hours each) for ten weeks, but I was way luckier than people who have to go through that for years.
Michael
Dhomas 07:51 on 2019-11-08 Permalink
To your point, Michael, I really think organ donation should be opt-out instead of opt-in. I’m not sure I signed my new Medicare card, not because I don’t want to donate my organs, but just because I didn’t think to do it.
Kate 10:25 on 2019-11-08 Permalink
Dhomas, is it not true that, even if a person signs, his wishes can easily be contravened by family members? I don’t think it’s binding, although folks without family may be able to do it.
Michael Black 11:06 on 2019-11-08 Permalink
I thought that I’d read that. So you’re supposed to talk it over with them when you sign.
I actualy have my first will, and I had them put in it that any useful organs can be used reused, the rest can go to science, and if anything left over, cremated. I suppose that can be fought like any clause in will, but I did it to formalize the declaration.
I meant to add here that what I remember from Emru’s campaign for a stem cell search is that the test for a match is non-intrusive, and landing on a registry will mean you get contacted if you match,but that doesn’t obligated you to donate if you match. So you can change your mind then though at that point it’s hard to see why someone would back out, but I think it can be done.
At the hospital they asked me to participate in a kidney study which is interesting because it’s to keep raw data, so it’s there for future study rather than having a study and collecting data. It won’t involve taking samples, just using leftovers when samples are taken, or taking more blood when I have to give a blood sample anyway. It seems like a good way to do research, I’d certainly not sign if it meant extra tripe and giving samples just for the study.
Michael
Kate 12:09 on 2019-11-08 Permalink
Michael, usually the will reading comes too late for this. There’s “living will” stuff but I’m not sure how that works.