Nothing seemed out of the ordinary as my friend Erin and I drove home for winter break.
Fresh off the first semester of our sophomore year, we discussed exams, our plans for Christmas, and other things I look back on today as totally insignificant. We were getting close to Lexington on I-81 when Erin got a call from a number she didn't recognize. It was a police officer, and he told her that her younger brother Greg had been in a bad skateboarding accident and was being airlifted to a hospital in Roanoke.
Her brother Greg, an 18-year-old freshman engineering major at Tech, was immediately knocked unconscious when he fell off his skateboard near Slusher Tower that evening. Despite the medical care he received, the damage to his brain was too severe, and he died the following Saturday.
Although Greg lost his life, he had something left to give. Since his injury was restricted to his head, Greg was eligible to donate his organs. His heart, lungs, kidneys and liver have already saved four lives, lives that may not have continued very long without his gift of life. His eyes now provide sight for someone and his nerves, bone, tissue, and cells were also donated. Medical research and hopefully many more lives in the future will benefit from those as well.
Although Erin lost her only brother, I know she finds comfort knowing that four people are alive today because of Greg. She wouldn't say it's a fair trade. But she would say that even though she lost an irreplaceable piece of her family, Greg saved other people from having to go through that same loss. And because of that knowledge, her pain is lessened.
Despite the immeasurable gifts a person can provide as an organ donor, it's estimated that fewer than half of Americans are signed up to be one. This low number may stem from the notion that organ donors don't get the same medical care as others, or from the belief that it costs money to donate. Some people simply believe they're not healthy enough to give.
None of this is true. If you decide to be an organ donor, you receive the same medical treatment as someone who is not. Very few health conditions wholly prevent a person from sharing organs. And it's completely free for the donor. Additionally, people ranging in age from newborns to senior citizens have successfully given. So you're never too old.
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Organ donation is nice. . . but think of how many people more people would stand a chance at having their lives saved if people were allowed to sell their extraneous organs. Such a practice is currently illegal in this country, which is truly a travesty.
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I love you Liza. I love Erin. And I loved Greg. And everything written here is true.
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