Would you donate an organ while you are still alive?

When thinking about organ donation, most of the time a person will contemplate what will happen to their organs when they die. However, some organ donations are by people that are still living. This is called living donation.

Many living donations are by family members of friends of the person who needs a transplant, their love for the person motivates them to make the sacrifice. However, some living donors do not know who the recipient will be. This is an incredibly altruistic thing to do, and there are not many people who would be prepared to do it.

The NHS refers to living donation to a stranger as ‘altruistic donation’, although not everyone agrees with this nomenclature. Tom Cledwyn donated one of his kidneys to a complete stranger in 2012 and in his blog about the experience, he explains why he thinks altruistic donation is not a good term.

So people assume donating a kidney to a stranger is selfless. The NHS even label this type of donation ‘altruistic’. For me, this is all wrong. Yes, there’s a number of more selfish acts that people can involve themselves in but by assuming altruism and selflessness we’re in danger of completely missing the point. I chose to do this because I want to make a difference and inflict change on someone. In doing this I will feel pride and a sense of worth, which I believe wrongly or rightly, is central to the very essence of giving. If we turn our back on what it is that drives people to give then less people will do it. Sure, this isn’t about getting anything back. But most of life is no different.

Read Tom’s full blog post here > https://medium.com/@tomcledwyn/becoming-a-kidney-donor-54169c2b181f

It’s fairly common knowledge that a person can donate one of their 2 kidneys and continue to live a normal life. But kidney donation is not the only type of living donation. It is possible to donate a part of your liver, up to 60%! The livers of both the donor and recipient will grow back to full size in about 6 weeks. It is also possible to be a living tissue donor, where you donate amniotic membrane, bone marrow or even actual bone.

Kidney donation is by far the most common type of living organ donation, with over 1,000 such donations happening per year. While there are always risks associated with any surgery, it is very rare for a living kidney donor to have any complications from the surgery or any kidney related issues in later life. Becoming a living donor is not a quick nor easy process. It can take months and a multitude of tests. Recovery after kidney donation is relatively quick with most donors being discharged within a few days.

The NHS provides many information resources about becoming a living kidney donor here https://www.organdonation.nhs.uk/become-a-living-donor/donating-your-kidney/

Living liver donations are far less common. While donating part of your liver won’t lead to long term issues, the recovery time from a liver donation is much longer than from a kidney donation. The hospital stay is usually twice as long as the few days required after donating a kidney.

The NHS resources for those considering becoming living liver donors can be found here https://www.organdonation.nhs.uk/helping-you-to-decide/about-organ-donation/what-can-you-donate/about-liver-donation/

Stem cell or bone marrow donors can save the lives of patients suffering from leukaemia and other disorders affecting the bones or blood. These procedures are less invasive and may not even require a hospital stay. It is also possible to donate actual bone. For example, when someone has a hip replacement, part of the removed bone can be used to assist someone else.

Find out more about donating bone at the NHS information page here https://www.organdonation.nhs.uk/become-a-living-donor/bone-and-amniotic-membrane-donation/

Becoming a living donor is something that requires deep thought and reflection, but in the end it will save someone’s live and let love live on. If you feel that it is something you would like to do, please use the contact details on the web pages linked earlier in this article.