Donation facts Don’t let misinformation affect your decision to sign up as a donor to help others
final act of charity and love. If in doubt, ask your spiritual or religious leader. False: I’m too old to be an organ or tissue donor. Fact: There is no age limit for organ donation. Many donors older than 50 — and some in their 80s — have saved lives. Last year, Gift of Life Michigan helped a 101-year-old woman become a tissue donor. Your medical condition at the time of death will determine whether your organs are healthy enough to help another person. False: I can’t have an open- casket viewing if I donate my tissue and/or organs. Fact: Donation need not interfere with funeral plans. The donor’s body is treated with the utmost respect. Gift of Life has relationships with funeral homes across Michigan. False: I can only sign up to donate when getting or renewing my driver’s license. Fact: You can sign up at any time through a Secretary of State branch office, its website at Michigan.gov/OrganDonation or the Gift of Life website, golm.org/register . It only takes five minutes to save a life, so Check Your Heart and add your name to the Michigan Organ Donor Registry today.
False: Doctors don’t work as hard to save the lives of registered organ donors.
Lieber Institute’s Chief Medical Officer Dr. Thomas Hyde
Fact: If you are sick or injured, the first priority of your hospital care team is to save your life. Organ donation is only considered when all efforts to save a patient have been exhausted.
the research is in lockstep with the organization’s core purpose: To honor life through donation. “Life is precious, so with everything we do, we seek to honor it and make it better,” he said. “Brain research is a shining example of what is and what might be someday for people all over the world.” Families must give special permission, so Lieber teams talk with them about screening criteria, help them understand how the brain is removed at Gift of Life’s Donor Care Center in Ann Arbor, and let them know they can still plan an open casket viewing. Lieber Institute covers all costs and is happy to share autopsy results. “It’s hard to find words to describe how special these families are,” Bruce said. “Their grief is profound, yet they look beyond and say, ‘This is who our loved one was and what they would want.’” Breakthroughs are coming in treatment for cognitive impairment in Parkinson’s disease, schizophrenia and traumatic brain injuries. “This partnership has the potential to affect millions of lives.”
False: I am too sick to be a donor.
Fact: Don’t rule yourself out. A patient with diabetes might not qualify to donate kidneys, but could have healthy lungs or a strong heart. Donors with HIV can donate to patients with HIV. Medical teams decide which organs and tissues are suitable for transplant. False: I can’t be a donor if I’ve had COVID-19. Fact: Patients who have been exposed to or contracted COVID-19 can still donate organs and tissue. Even lungs that were infected might still be suitable for transplant if the donor was asymptomatic at the time of donation. Again, don’t rule yourself out. False: My religion prohibits organ and tissue donation.
Fact: Most major religions support organ and tissue donation and consider it a
LifeLINES | 2023
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