​​​​Sarah Clayton​

One Argument, Three Ways

 

Marissa Romsek was eighteen years old and on break between semesters of her first year at Michigan State University on January 1st, 2012. Although tall and somewhat awkward, she was a cheerleader all throughout high school and overcame the stereotype by being everybody’s friend and always inviting lonely souls to have lunch with her. You could hear her laugh clear down the hall; she embraced life and lived hers fully. She had been invited to parties for New Years Eve the night before, but chose to stay in with her parents and younger brother Joey, who was born with spina bifida and is in a wheelchair permanently. Of course, she had her faults, we all do, but she tried her hardest to do the right thing every day. 

 

Mrs. Romsek, a very spiritual woman, woke that morning to the sound of her only daughter vomiting in the hallway. Whenever her children were sick, the first thing she did was close her eyes to pray. This time, what she saw when she shut her eyes was a vision of Marissa dressed in bright colors with a light beaming from beyond. The next part of the story was never told aloud; however, it surely went something like this: she was on the ground, seizing, vomiting, dying, and then an ambulance came and took her away.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Because of her organ donation, there are eight people alive today that would otherwise be gone. Her heart beats on, her lungs fill with air every day, her liver is out there, her eyes are still seeing, and her kidneys both function perfectly. Marissa lives on, and so do eight other strangers, all because of one girl and an organ donation. Think of all those that could be saved if every adult with a drivers license could make that same donation at the end of their own journey. Think of the grief Mr. and Mrs. Romsek would have been saved if that decision did not have to burden them that day. What better way to save a life; what better way to keep your own memory alive? 

Last year, more than 120,000 people were on the waiting list for an organ in this country with only about 13,000 donations available (unos.org). The most obvious problem is that there were about 107,000 people last year who didn’t even have a chance for transplantation due to the lack of organ donors. Every single day, eighteen people will die due to a shortage of organ donations (orgdonor.gov). According to the Office of Highway Policy Information, in 2009, there were over 200 million licensed drivers in America. Also in that year, there were over 33,000 traffic fatalities (United States Census Bureau). While it’s not enough to cover all of those waiting for a transplant, if each licensed driver were required to be an organ donor, assuming that at least one organ from their body was transplantable after death, 33,000 people could have been saved in 2009 alone. 

 

Consider this: a will is a document that you write up so that your loved ones will be able to keep your belongings after you’ve passed on. Getting a professional will drafted takes time and money if you want it done right. You do it though, because when you are gone, those items won’t have a place to go and you want them placed in the care of someone who will treasure them as you once did. Now apply this same logic to your liver. You might not think about it every day, but in a sense you do treasure your liver. If it was not functioning properly, you would die. Now, think of signing up to be an organ donor as a form of a will for your precious organs. It is free and can be done online and it will ensure that once you’ve passed, your organs will be placed in the care of someone who will treasure them as you once did. Instead of leaving your organs to be forgotten, like your belongings would be without a will, requiring every licensed driver to sign up as an organ donor would ensure that things so essential to life are not left with no purpose. Nobody plans to be in a car accident, but these things happen and are sometimes fatal. By skipping the debate of organ donation and saving loved ones from making the choice, required donation for all licensed drivers could automatically save over 33,000 lives a year.

 

The Cleveland Clinic in Ohio was founded by four physicians in 1921. Today, it is considered one of the top four hospitals in the United States by U.S. News & World Report. Aside from being an academic hospital, affiliated with Case Western Reserve University, the clinic is also an Ohio nonprofit corporation. Their Transplantation Center is led by Dr. Kareem Abu-Elmagd, MD, PhD who is one of the world-class experts that perform many different types of transplantation procedures each year. However, there is a cap on the number of life saving surgeries these doctors can do. Without registered organ donors, their job would become futile. 

 

In an online chat with Dr. Abu-Elmagd and Gordon Bowen, the Chief Executive Officer of Lifebanc -- Northeast Ohio’s nonprofit organ procurement organization -- people had the chance to ask questions and get advice on transplantation from these two prestigious leaders in the field. Bowen made it clear that donor registration is simple and quick and that your few minutes could save/heal up to fifty lives. He points out that it’s easiest to just say, “yes,” when asked if you want to be an organ donor while registering your license. Both Dr. Abu-Elmagd and Gordan Bowen want to assure people that organ donation is worthwhile. They encourage each person to sign up as soon as possible in order to increase the number of available organs for transplant so that people don’t have to die on a waiting list. 

Dr. Abu-Elmagd and Gordan Bowen represent the entire field of organ/tissue transplant and are experts when it comes to making decisions about donation. By making the decision to say yes when asked if you’ll donate your organs while renewing your license, you make the decision to change lives even after you’ve passed. No matter how old or young you are, if you have a driver’s license, you have the potential to change the world. You are the key to this movement. Make the decision to donate your organs in the future, today.

 

 

Works Cited

"The 2012 Statistical Abstract." Motor Vehicle Accidents and Fatalities. U.S. Department of Commerce, n.d. Web. 03 Feb. 2014.

 

"Highway Finance Data Collection." Office of Highway Policy Information (OHPI) –. U.S. Department of Transportation, n.d. Web. 03 Feb. 2014.

 

"Becoming a Donor." Organdonor.gov. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, n.d. Web. 03 Feb. 2014.

 

"UNOS DonateLife." UNOS. United Network for Organ Sharing, n.d. Web. 03 Feb. 2014.

 

"Transplant Center." Cleveland Clinic. The Cleveland Clinic, n.d. Web. 03 Feb. 2014.