Eric's Health Page
Health is extremely important both personally and to society as a whole.
There are three things that have been the scourges of mankind:
Ingestion of high quantities of fat, especially saturated fat and trans-fatty acids
Use of tobacco, alcohol, and other recreational drugs
Sedentary lifestyle (i.e., inactivity)
All three of these issues are easily addressed:
Fat ingestion. Just don't ingest fat, and for goodness sake, avoid saturated fat and trans-fatty acids like the plague ! (see Eric's Cooking/Eating Page for more details).
Recreational drugs. While alcohol use may have been a necessity for mankind for much of the past several thousand years (due to the unavailability of safe drinking water near areas of human habitation), it is in general no longer so. Just say no to drugs!
Sedentary lifestyle. This is easy - just go out and do something fun (see Eric's Sports/Athletics Page for more details)!
One of the wonders of modern medical science is the emergence of human tissue donation to cure a wide variety of afflictions. There are several types of tissue donation possible:
Whole blood. This one is most familiar to people. You can donate as often as every eight weeks. For more information, see the American Red Cross Whole Blood Donation page.
Plateletpheresis. This is what I do. Platelets are needed by certain patients (e.g., aplastic anemia patients, leukemia patients, etc.). It is far more efficient to extract just platelets out of the body than to extract platelets from donated whole blood. The procedure involves getting stuck with two needles, typically one in each arm. Your blood goes out one needle, through sterile tubing to a centrifugal separator (where the platelets are removed), then back into your body via the second needle in your other arm. The process takes longer than whole blood donation (about 1.5 hours on the table), but most donation centers provide a wide selection of video taped movies to help make the time pleasant. You can do this every two weeks. I've been doing this as regularly as my schedule allows since 1992. For more information, see the National Institutes of Health Plateletpheresis page.
Plasmapheresis. Plasma is extracted in a procedure similar to platelet pheresis. In fact, sometimes it is even extracted in conjunction with platelet pheresis. The American Red Cross allows people to donate plasma every eight weeks. I do this in conjunction with platelet pheresis as often as the Red Cross allows me to.
Bone marrow. Bone marrow transplants are now capable of CURING certain types of leukemia and other diseases. Unfortunately, the donor must be extremely well matched. There is about a 25 % chance that any particular of a person's siblings is such a match. If a person isn't fortunate enough to have a matching sibling, they have to get one from a non-relative match. The good news is that there is a National Marrow Donor Registry of people who have identified themselves as willing marrow donors. Each such donor has allowed a sample of their blood to be tissue typed for at least four blood antigens, which constitute the Human Leukocyte Antigens (HLA) tissue type (it is a more complete means of identifying blood type than the well known A+, for example). If a suitable donor can be found, they are contacted, and, at no cost to themselves, some marrow is extracted by needle from the back of their pelvis (which is a very large bone conveniently near the skin). The marrow is given to the recipient (after all the recipient's marrow has been killed by radiation) intravenously. If you are interested in becoming listed in the National Marrow Donor Registry, call 1-800-MARROW-2. There are periodic opportunities to have your blood tissue typed free of charge in most communities. I've been listed in the National Marrow Donor database since 1992. We all have the power to CURE certain types of cancer -- let's use that power!
Living donor organ transplants. Occasionally we have the ability to make a dramatic difference in the life of another. I'm glad to say that I've had such an opportunity. In February '93, I had the opportunity to donate a kidney to my brother, whose own kidneys had almost totally failed as a complication of diabetes. Both he and I made full recoveries after the surgery. For more information on living donations, see Living Donations, an Overview.
Cadaver organ transplants. This can be our last and best gift to human kind on our way out of this life. Medical science has done us a great favor by developing the technology to successfully save lives by transplanting organs from the recently departed. After you die (and clearly have no further use for your body), your organs can be used to save lives in a multitude of ways such as the following:
Heart transplants. People with severe heart disease die every day in need of transplants. For more information, see here.
Lung transplants. They can allow certain victims of degenerative lung diseases to breathe normally again. For more information, see here and here.
Kidney transplants. They can prevent victims of renal failure from having to undergo dialysis every few days. The mortality rate for a person on dialysis is about 4% a year in the US. However, dialysis is a very large imposition on one's life. Most people on dialysis spend at least 12 hours a week involved in some aspect of dialysis regardless of the type of dialysis they use. Even though survival may be good, the opportunity to lead a "normal" life will be more difficult while on dialysis. On the other hand, a successful kidney transplant may last for decades, particularly if it is from a living donor (see Living donor organ transplants above). For more information on kidney transplants, see here.
Liver transplants. Liver transplantation is the only treatment available for most forms of "end stage liver disease". For more information, see here.
Pancreas transplants. They can cure certain types of diabetes. For more information, see here.
The bad news is that despite continuing advances in medicine and technology, the demand for organs drastically outstrips the amount of organ donors. The numbers tell the stark story. For instance, in 1996:
There were 5,416 cadaveric donors;
20,360 lifesaving transplants;
50,047 registrations on the waiting list; and
3,916 people who died waiting (source: UNOS).
You or one you love may even be one of those who needs a transplant, or worse, who dies waiting for one, which is why it is so vitally important that we each do our share to provide the needed lifesaving organs (which we no longer need after we are dead) to others that they might live on. What a nice way to have an "afterlife"!
There are two simple steps you can take that can literally save lives.
Step One: Share your life by deciding to be an organ and tissue donor.
Step Two: Share your decision with your family now. At the time of your death, your family will be asked about donation. Sharing your decision with your family will spare them the added burden of having to guess your wishes at a difficult time. Since none of us know the day or the hour of death, it's important to tell your family now. Carrying out your wish to save other lives can provide your family with great comfort in their time of grief. If you do not inform your family, even if you carry an organ donation card or similar notation on your driver's license, your family will likely still be asked for consent. This is typically done for the following reasons:
A respect for the family in their time of grief;
The need for donor medical and social history;
Fear of bad publicity (i.e., if the family does not consent despite the deceased individual's written instructions);
Fear of being sued.
Enforcement of a donor card or advance directive presumes that individuals are aware of these documents, have overcome fears of mortality, receiving substandard care, and cultural/religious barriers to sign or draft a donor document (in fact, all organized religions support donation, typically considering it a generous act that is the individual's choice -- see here); and that the donor document is found and brought to the attention of the physicians involved in treating potential donors such as trauma victims. Seldom do all of these events occur.
For more information, see the US Dept of Health and Human Services Organ Donation site and the United Network for Organ Sharing.
Cadaver tissue transplants. A slight variation on cadaver organ transplants. Examples:
Heart valve transplants. They help children born with heart problems or adults who have heart disease and damaged heart valves.
Bone transplants. These are used to repair or replace bone after serious injury, bone cancer, or crippling diseases of the bone.
Tendon and ligament transplants. These are used to replace or strengthen damaged tissues in injured knees and other joints.
Corneal transplants. They are used to restore sight to people with decreased vision from corneal disease or injury.
Skin grafts. These are used as a temporary covering to reduce pain and lower the chance of infection to patients with severe burns. Make an enormous difference in helping victims of severe whole-body burns to recover.
For more information, see the American Red Cross Tissue Services page.
For more information on Tissue Typing (which is relevant to nearly all of these tissue donation programs, see the University of Michigan Transplant Center Tissue Typing Tutorial.
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This page last updated 01/04/02
© 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, and 2002 Eric E. Haas