Sanjivan - The Organ Donation Blog

Hello all - Yes it has been quite some time I wrote on Sanjivan.com. But here I come again with a bang! I have been hearing a lot about Organ Donation Chain extensively lately and I am happy to note another wonderful story.

I was browsing Stanford University’s webpage and this story was on their homepage.

I am happy to congragulate and thank Stanford who made this miracle possible.

Now to the story:

Allan Soriano was diagnosed with a kidney disorder in 1985 that said his kidneys would slowly detoriate. Two years ago he developed end stage renal disease (ESRD) which and he needed a kidney transplant. Stanford Hospital’s website says that In the United States, more than half a million people have ESRD.

Stanford transplant surgeon Marc Melcher, MD, PhD coordinated the organ donation chain and surgeons from four medical centers in California and New York performed the Organ Donation Chain. The Sorianos were at different operating theaters on November 19, 2008 and an year after they are doing well.

I am really happy to see more of this happening in the US and thanks to Stanford to highlight this wonderful cause.

Here is the original article from Stanford Hospital.

I got an email from Jackie Corle from The Star Ledger about their three-part series on Kidney Donation called “Chain of Life”. I was so emotionally consumed by the powerful showcasing of the story and I can only say -  “Great work guys”.

Here is a small snippet of the video that is part of the three-part series.

Check out the Three parts of the series below.

Part 1: A gift of hope unfolds (Sunday)

Part 2: A dozen surgeries in 36 hours (Monday)

Part 3: Donors and recipients meet

Thanks to The Star Ledger, especially Amy Ellis Nutt, John O Boyle, John Munson, Aristide Economopoulis, Jennifer Brown, Patti Sapone, Matt Rainey, Natalia Jimenez, Jackie Corle and others who have been part of producing this series. They have shown how organ donation can really change somebody’s life.

Thanks to all the doctors, nurses, emergency specialists, other medical professionals and ALL THE DONORS who chose to make a difference. It is very rare such a wonderful gift of life happens on a day and I am happy to be living during one of those days.

Dont forget to see the complete three-part series at Chain of Life at NJ.com

Believe that you too can change somebody’s life. Register for Organ Donation.

Cheers!

I am happy to note that Sen. George H. Bunting Jr from Delaware, received a kidney transplant through paired donation last month. Both he and his wife, Donna are recovering well. The Senator’s wife donated her kidney to a relative of the Senator’s donor.

An another piece of info here is that they both used the Paired Kidney Exchange Program at the John Hopkins Hospital at Baltimore.

Learn about Paired Donation

Other Paired Donation Success Stories

After writing about Matt and Ron yesterday, I was reading more about Paired Donation Network.

It is a unique and faster way to get a kidney donation for your loved one who needs a transplant.

Paired Donation Network helps in situations where you want to donate a kidney/other organ to your loved one who needs it. But your loved one is unable to accept your donation because of medical reasons. So what you do here is to pledge that you will donate your organ to anyone else who is inneed of it. Similarly, friends and relatives of other patients who needs organ donation will pledge to donate their organs. This increases the possibility of finding a match as the number of people donating for a specific cause increases.

If you are inneed of a transplant, please reach out to your closest Paired Donation Network. More details can be obtained at http://www.paireddonationnetwork.org/ and please, spread the word of paired donation network. God Bless.

Isnt it nice when miracles just continue to happen. I read today that a Michigan man decided to donate one of his kidneys to a person he had never met. Nice inst it. But it doesn’t stop there. Now the Phoenix woman’s husband will donate one of his kidneys to a perfect stranger. Wow. That is nice. Now again, it doesn’t stop there. That woman’s best friend will then do the same. And so on and so on. I am really happy to see people do this. Let this chain event rekindle the spirit of organ donation in the society. God Bless.

Thanks to Matt Jones from Michigan who started this chain event. Thanks to Ron Bunnell from Phoenix, who decided to donate his kidney continuing the charity.