By Valerie McLeod
When you first meet Xavier McLeod, you'd never know he's sick. He looks and acts like a typical, rambunctious 3-year-old boy, who likes to play football, basketball, baseball, and jump off things. However, Xavier suffers from chronic renal failure, due to a condition he was diagnosed with, before he was born, called Posterior Urethral Valves. This is an abnormality that affects only male infants and occurs in about one in 8,000 births. As a result, Xavier is in need of a new kidney.
My husband and I were heart broken to learn that we could not be living donors because we suffer from diabetes and high blood pressure. Xavier’s name was placed on the organ transplant list October 6, 2005, and he is still waiting for a match.
It is difficult to understand the severity of the situation until you actually start to live through it. Xavier receives 10 hours of peritoneal dialysis each night to help keep him alive. He receives Epogen shots once a week to treat anemia, which is a low red blood cell count. He receives a hormone shot every night to help stimulate growth. Xavier also requires daily tube feedings to provide needed nutrients to help obtain and maintain growth.
The rate of organ donation in minority communities does not keep pace with the number needing transplants. Although minorities donate in proportion to their share of the population, their need for transplants is much greater. African Americans, for example, are about 13 percent of the population, about 12 percent of donors, and about 23 percent of the kidney waiting list. Successful transplantation is often enhanced by matching of organs between members of the same racial and ethnic group. Generally, people are genetically more similar to people of their own ethnicity or race than to people of other races. Therefore, matches are more likely and more timely when donors and potential recipients are members of the same ethnic background.
The U.S. government’s Office of Minority Health reports that minority patients may have to wait longer for matched kidneys and, therefore, may be sicker at the time of transplant or even die waiting.
I naively thought Xavier, who is young and has the common blood type of O positive, would quickly match with a donor. Unfortunately, each time Xavier's name has come up, someone else has been a perfect match. With more donated organs from minorities, finding a match will be quicker and the waiting time will be reduced. Many times when we are faced with a tragedy the last thing on our minds is donating our loved ones organs, but think what this would do for families like mine. You would be giving another family a very special gift – the gift of life.
Editor's note: To become an organ donor, visit www.donatelife.net. You should also make your wishes known to other family members.
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Common Myths About Organ Donation
Myth: If emergency room doctors know you’re an organ donor, they won’t work as hard to save you.
Truth: If you are sick and admitted to the hospital, the number one priority is to save your life. Organ donation can only be considered if you die and after your family has been consulted.
Myth: Wealthy and famous individuals are more likely to receive a transplant because of their financial and/or celebrity status.
Truth: When you are on the transplant waiting list for an organ donor, what really counts is the severity of your illness, time spent waiting, blood type and other important medical information.
Myth: Donation will disfigure my body.
Truth: Donation does not disfigure the body and does not interfere with having a funeral, including open casket services.
Myth: There are costs to my family for donation.
Truth: The donor’s family does not pay for the cost of donation. All costs related to donation of organs and tissues are paid by the recipient, usually through insurance, Medicare or Medicaid.
Myth: I can sell my organs.
Truth: No! It is illegal to sell human organs and tissues.
Myth: Having “organ donor” noted on your driver’s license or carrying a donor card is all you have to do to become a donor.
Truth: While a signed donor card and driver’s license with an “organ donor” designation are legal documents, organ and tissue donation is always discussed with family members prior to donation. To ensure that your family understands your wishes, it is important that you share your decision to donate life.
Source: www.midsouthtransplant.org
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