For this blog assignment I went to an event called “Giving your Seven Pounds” which was hosted by the Ebony Health Series. The main focus of the event was to raise awareness about the importance of bone marrow, blood, and organ donating. Because bone marrow type is dependent on race factors the presentation focused especially on African Americans donating. The goal of this Health Series was to have more people change their mind about any negative stigma they had with donating. One of men presenting there was Edward Drake. Edward was actually a self proclaimed great football player and was diagnosed with kidney failure when he got his routine physical. For two years Edward was on dialysis and it was very depressing because a lot of the people in the health center were dying because of lack of organs. When he received his new kidney he felt obligated to spread the word about the importance of donating. Now he is the founder of an organization called YNOT which stands for Youth Needing Organs and Tissues.
One thing that really hit home for me was something that a Ms. Candye said. She explicitly spelled it out that doctors will not let you die just because you were an organ donor to save the life of another patient. I know that most of us are going into some medical profession and will end up being doctors. We would never think to do that dare we violate the Hippocratic Oath. But ever since I was a kid I thought this to be true. This was caused by what I saw in shows like ER and General Hospital. Ms. Candye said it made for good entertainment but couldn’t be further from the truth. The only way you’ll be a candidate for organ donating is if you’re brain dead of heart dead.
Actually being at the event helped to sway how I felt about the whole business of being a donor. Seeing someone else’s personal testimony, and simply learning the truth about the process was a big push in the right direction. I liked the last thing that Ms. Candye said: “In the event of your death wouldn’t you like to perform one last heroic act?” When I thought about that I was just waiting for them to end their presentation so I could sign up already. Now you’re reading the blog of a new blood, organ, and marrow donor and I’m so proud to say that.
You did a really good job of conveying what this event was like and what it stood for. I agree that its so important to be a blood, organ, and marrow donor. When you started talking about this issue, shows like Grey's Anatomy came to my mind too. It's amazing how convinced we are that those shows portray reality just because we don't know any better than to believe them. This would have been a really interesting event to attend. Congrats on being a new donor. That's such a great thing to do!
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