Friday 23 September 2011

So when I die...


So when I die, give everything away.
I mean everything!
There’s no point keeping it as it won’t do me any good. And anyway most of it will be old and well used I hope.
You won’t want to have to deal with it all. Let someone else who wants it take it.
I promise it will save you money. Dying is awful expensive these days.
I’m not talking about my worldly goods here nor am I talking about my soul. I am talking about something far more valuable to other people than that.
I’m talking about my body.
The cadaver.
Every piece of my body should be got rid of or to put it another way recycled and reused if it is of any use to someone else.
But perhaps, and it is something I sincerely hope, it will be too old and worn for  the internal organs and bits and pieces to be used for transplants but then my body should go for dissection and experimentation.
A healthy albeit old body will be a bit of a novelty for all those young doctors in training and I quite like the idea that  perhaps by using me  they may be able to save someone else.
I know there are those out there who feel a tad squeamish about giving away their bits and pieces but I promise if you were on the receiving end and it was your life that hung in the balance you would be exceedingly grateful.
It is so easy to become a donor and carry a donor card in your purse or wallet; just in case.
But now here comes the tricky bit/
Would you be willing to let your child be a donor? Would you be able to overcome your grief and let doctors take your child’s body and harvest it for organs so that another child or even children could live? Could you be brave enough?
Please say you will.
For there is a dreadful shortage of transplant organs for children not just here in the UK but in Europe too.
Many years ago my Drama teacher’s youngest son fell off a wall and died. I cannot imagine how losing a child in those circumstances must feel but both he and his wife agreed that they would offer their son’s organs for transplant. That beautiful little boy allowed four others to live. Their bravery is an inspiration.
When I heard about the accident and what they had gone through I signed up there and then to be an organ donor and  promised myself that should I ever be in that situation, which I hope and pray I will never be, but if I am I would want to be as brave and allow the doctors  to take my child so that others may live.
A body is not the soul for that can never die. It is something to remember…

9 comments:

Expat mum said...

Great post Tattie. I think that as more and more parents realise what organ donation can mean for others, they are allowing their child's organs to be donated.

Suburbia said...

Gosh, that's a very powerful last paragraph. Really made me think...

SmitoniusAndSonata said...

They're more than welcome to me ... if nothing else , it might be instructive to see what changes diabetes brings about over forty years or more ( a LOT more , I hope !) . But I would find it hard to decide for someone else , and think that I would have had great difficulty handing over my children .

Rob-bear said...

My wife and I are both organ donors. We have been for some time now. Great that you have posted this!

Zoë said...

Couldn't agree more - sadly they don't want any bits from me - can't even donate blood these days.

Told the OH to put me in the compost bin when that day comes - least I can feed my roses still.

Ladybird World Mother said...

Powerful stuff, Tattie. And I will... and as for children, awful, awful thought, but you have altered my thoughts on that one, in one post! So simple when you think about it, trouble is, one doesn't want to think about it.
xxx

Marcheline said...

One of the reasons I never had kids is so I will never have to make a decision like that. Call me chicken, but there it is.

Mother Hen said...

You have hit home with this one. When my first born was born, I filled out a donor card for us both before we left the hospital. I carry cards for both the children with mine and first born will soon be old enough to carry his own and said he would.
Very proud.

Spencer Park said...

One of the few things my ex-wife and I have always agreed on is the donation of organs. I'd never really thought about the kids - I guess I had best have a chat with her.

Thank you for raising such an important issue.

Go on you know you want to...

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