Give The Gift of Hope: Become An Organ Donor
AdventHealth helps answer your most common questions.
April is Donate Life Month and there are currently more than 113,000 people in the United States who need a life saving organ transplant. In order to understand what goes into giving the gift of life, who’s eligible, and what’s involved, we spoke with AdventHealth’s Surgical Director of Liver Transplant, Thomas Chin, MD.
WHO CAN DONATE?
“Any person is eligible to indicate that they want to donate their organs after death,” explains Dr. Chin. “Living donors – those that donate a kidney or part of their liver — must be 18 or older.” At the time of donation, an organ recovery specialist will evaluate each organ system with blood work, labs and X-rays.
WHAT ORGANS CAN BE DONATED?
“Up to eight organs may be donated from a single deceased donor: the liver, kidney, pancreas, heart, lung and intestine,” explains Dr. Chin. “In addition, tissues such as heart valves and blood vessels may also be used. Living donation is possible for the kidney and liver.” Adults can even be donors to children for both the kidney and liver, though there are size considerations.”
FEARS AND MYTHS.
“There are many myths surrounding organ donation,” says Dr. Chin. “As doctors, we work to heal everyone and are ethically bound to provide care without discrimination or preference for life based on any mitigating factors.”
BECOME AN ORGAN DONOR TODAY
Over 39,700 lives were saved in 2019. With this in mind, we encourage you to become an organ donor today in order to generously give the gift of life.
Dr. L. Thomas Chin is a board-certified surgeon specializing in liver transplantation. Did you know that you can register to be an organ donor directly on your phone? Open your Health app to learn more.
To learn more about organ donation and how to make a difference, visit AdventHealthTransplantInstitute.com today.
