Organ donation - The gift of sustained life

Modern medicine has found many ways to turn what might once have been a tragedy into something if not quite a victory then something uplifting, something defying and utterly of the human spirit.

Organ donation can now achieve what was once only imaginable — a second chance at life for people whose existence is curtailed by organ failure. Imagine the joy, the relief of someone — not to mention their family — who has been told that a match has been found and that for once the dice has fallen in their favour. Despite the possibilities medicine offers, more than 600 people are on lengthy heart, lung, liver, kidney, and pancreas waiting lists. The Irish Kidney Association’s annual Organ Donor Awareness campaign has begun and it seems impossible not to support its objectives. All of us have been given the gift of life but we can all decide to give something as precious — the gift of sustained life.