Donors Save Lives

This post is dedicated to the memory of Tye Husbands and the Husbands family.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Aaron Milton (l) and Tonya Spencer (r)

I remember when I first obtained my driver's license; I was faced with the decision to be an organ donor or reject the opportunity to save a life. At first, it seemed a bit creepy to have my body parts living beyond my expiration date. However, I felt it was the right thing to do to support the life of someone who remained long after my physical body retired from this earth. If I could give my blood to someone, I could give a perfectly good organ to someone who needed it to live. It seemed a bit wasteful to leave the earth with something I could no longer use.   

Since starting the Hold the Salt Campaign, I searched for support groups that could benefit from the articles. I was blessed to be added to a group for the chronically ill. Aaron Milton's invitation to Peer to Peer allowed me to share the information about the dietary campaign to better health, but I was gifted with a chance to learn about his journey to life; he suffers from *Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD).

Milton was first diagnosed with CKD in 2000 and had lost two-thirds of his kidney's functioning capacity by 2003. He had to undergo **dialysis while waiting on a kidney donor. Milton lives in Michigan where one in eight people are diagnosed with CDK. According to a 2011 Wood TV 8 interview with Missi Ostapowicz, kidney donor coordinate at Saint Mary's Kidney Transplant Center, Michigan was the 42nd lowest state in the country with registered donors. No matter the low numbers, Milton still signed up with Saint Mary's in 2006, but there was a four to five year wait as there are more patients needing transplants than there are donors. 

The Donate Life America web site claims that every 10 minutes a new patient is added to an organ transplant waiting list. There is an extensive screening process for donors to be matched to patients. The site also reports that an average of 18 people die per day because there are no available donors. Milton's journey extended to that fifth year on the waiting list until an anonymous donor responded to classified ad from St. Mary's for donors in the Grand Rapids Press. Milton's donor did not stay anonymous for long; he and Tonya Spencer eventually met to help encourage others to donate. Spencer is a living donor who wanted to help extend a life with a gift of life.

Both Milton and Spencer had to recover several weeks after the transplant. Six months following the transplant, Milton followed-up with physicians and continued to get regular check-ups. Milton is still maintaining his health with the support of his wife, takes daily medication, drinks plenty of water, exercises, and follows a healthy diet to prevent recurring kidney failure.

Aaron Milton and Tonya Spencer are Hold The Salt Campaign heroes. To see Milton and Spencer, please check out the following video link:

http://www.woodtv.com/dpp/eightwest/Learning_About_Kidney_Disease#.UTyM9OwLSEJ.facebook

If you want to learn more about donor information, please visit http://donatelife.net/understanding-donation/ The site also provides you with local contacts for ways you can support donor efforts.

Did you know 90% of Americans say they support donation, but only 30% know the essential steps to take to be a donor.  Click to read more statistics about organ donations. http://donatelife.net/understanding-donation/statistics/

*Chronic Kidney Disease - The gradual loss of kidney function over a period of time
**dialysis - The clinical purification of blood thus, as a substitute for the normal function of the kidney.

Here's to your continued health.

-Y