Let's talk about organ donation.

As of right now, according to the OPTN's transplant information database there are 118,646 people waiting for organs. There are 1,662 people waiting for lungs. And, I'm not even actively listed yet. (I'm almost done with preliminary testing. I'm about 90% of the way through the checklist.)

Today approximately 18 people will die waiting for a transplant.

If you haven't, I encourage you to register to be an organ donor. And, don't stop there. Discuss it with your family--children and parents--and anyone close to you. Make sure they know what you want them to do and encourage them to carry out your wishes. There are times a donor's wishes are not carried out by the family because they are too distraught at the time of death, or they just didn't know what their loved one wanted.

The Sarah Murnaghan case has brought a lot of attention, both good and bad, to organ donation. It's all over the news and a lot of people have voiced their opinions. I heard a story recently about a mother who went with her 16 year old son to get his drivers license. She wouldn't let them mark organ donor on the card because she didn't want to think about her child ever dying.

No one likes to think about it but it happens. But maybe we should think about it. Maybe it would make people get up in the morning singing praises rather than grumbling. Maybe people would be more kind on the road because they want fewer accidents. Maybe we'd have more terminally ill patients being able to make amends at the end of their life...

Maybe.

Talking about death in this society has become somewhat of a taboo. I've discovered a lot of people prefer not to talk about. Some ignore it. They fear discussing it will somehow summon or hasten death. I've heard stories of families who avoided talking about a family member's illness. Somehow they went on believing everything would work out and avoided telling the kids until the last moment. And then, when death came, everyone was bitter because they didn't make those last days count. They didn't prepare. They didn't know what the deceased would have liked.

They didn't talk about it.

Talk about it NOW because we will all face death. We just don't know when our time will be up. Tomorrow is not guaranteed. Someone, somewhere, right now, is faced with a loss and a decision that could bring hope to so many families. One deceased donor can save up to eight lives through organ donation. They can also provide up to 100 people with corneas, skin, bones, veins, tendons, ligaments, and more through tissue donation.

In just the time it took to write this blog post, eight people disappeared off the transplant list, three of them were waiting for lungs. Did they die or did they get their lungs? Did someone, dealing with a devastating loss, say yes or no?