What’s Your View On Being An Organ Donor?

 

This guest post is from Kaitlyn Lancaster, Regent University School of Law 2L: 

This question has been debated for decades and plagues the minds of many Americans, particularly, and oddly, when standing in line at the DMV. For me, however, this question was the easiest I’ve ever had to answer, an absolute “Yes, I’d very much like to be an organ donor!” As morbid as that sounds, consider this backstory.

My grandfather, Willie Lancaster, was born in 1949 and in 1954 was sent to the Free Will Baptist Children’s Home in Middlesex, North Carolina, where he was raised. Willie loved playing basketball. To this day, he still holds the single-season scoring record for his high school’s basketball team, and, were he to have been healthy, could’ve provided him a pathway to a college basketball career. However, unbeknownst to Willie, or the orphanage staff, he was a type one diabetic, which was only discovered after he passed out in the middle of a game. This realization hindered his ability to play basketball, his college prospects, and many aspects of his future.

Willie married my grandmother, Paula, in 1970. Throughout their marriage, he was plagued with illness after illness which greatly impacted their lives. He lost his eyesight completely in his right eye due to the late detection of his diabetes. He was suffering incredibly and was placed on the transplant list for both a pancreas and a kidney. For a family, being on the transplant list is very much a waiting period. It’s a constant up and down of waiting for the phone to ring, being so excited for the prospect of it being your time, and then being let down all over again when the transplant falls through. However, on February 15, 1993, Willie got the call, a real call this time, and was able to get the life-saving transplant that he needed at Duke University Hospital. However, this transplant came with a cost. On Valentine’s Day, 1993, a young girl, attending North Carolina State University, was driving to meet up with a friend and got into a horrific car accident, ending her life. Her parents donated her organs to those in need, to my grandfather specifically. Were it not for her parent’s generosity and selflessness, I may not have had the opportunity to meet my grandfather, and he may never have been able to live for as long as he did, ironically, as a Duke Basketball fan.

Tragically, on July 28, 2011, Willie was on his way to a local diner, which he frequented every morning. On the way, another, distracted, driver hit Willie head-on, ending his life. Because of the gracious, selfless, and priceless gift, we were given by being able to know, love, and be loved by Willie, we extended that gift to another family. Willie’s cornea from his left eye was donated at the time of his death and was provided to a young boy who would now be given the gift of sight.

While obvious hesitations are presented regarding organ donation, I encourage you to remember this story. After your loved one has passed, their organs are useless to be kept with them. Particularly, if they are a person of faith, they have already been given their new body in Heaven with Christ. With that in mind, organ donation provides the opportunity of life, love, and family to so many individuals across the United States every year. What is a better gift, than the gift of a happy and healthy life?