Organ Donation Conflict

A women wrote in to the opinion section of the newspaper that I read and talked about organ donation. She mentioned that lots of parents are excited and nervous this time of year for their kids going back to school. But she knows some parents who are only sending one child to school this year instead of two because their daughter was not able to receive a donated heart and so she died.

I feel a lot of sympathy and pain for these parents, especially since I've lost a child myself and am missing sending that child to preschool soon. But my conflict is that someone would have to die for that poor little girl to get a heart. Someone else would be grieving their loved one for the girl to live, and I would feel sad for that family too.

It's a big catch-22 for me. People are understandably concerned that they are waiting for an organ donation, but at the same time, each donated organ comes at the unspeakable price of a life. 

I am enrolled as an organ donor, and I know people really need organ donations, but at the same time I want to keep all my organs for a long time, I want to live. Each organ donor death helps someone else live. One family is devastated at the loss while the other rejoices in new life with much thanksgiving. An circle of life pattern.

It reminds me of a cute chick-flick that also brings up an interesting thought- Return to Me. David Duchovny and Minnie Driver make a cute love story, but at the expense of his first wife. His first wife's heart returns to him in a new woman. He was able to find a new love, but at the same time, he lost his first love. It's romantic yet heartbreaking.

With full support for organ donation, I also understand there's a lot of conflicting emotion wrapped up in each donation. As all life lessons teach, there's a need to be sensitive on both sides of the issue.