The Importance of Organ Donation: Perspectives from Recipients and Advocates

Weeks ago, during the second day of the Presidential Debate, the La Libertad Avanza candidate stated: “We do not propose the sale of organs. What we are saying is that there are 7,000 people waiting for a transplant and 300,000 potential donors, and there is something that does not work in the middle and that generates a lot of corruption.” This word, corruption, generated a stir because it questioned the work of the National Central Single Ablation and Implant Coordinating Institute (INCUCAI).

Through their social networks, the organization repudiated the statements, stating that Milei has total ignorance of the transplant system in Argentina.

“From the IINCUCAI and the 24 provincial donation and transplant organizations, we disseminate the following information, in relation to the statements made in yesterday’s presidential debate that demonstrate a total ignorance of the system,” the organization expressed through the social network .

“First of all, we clarify that not every deceased person can be a donor. Donation depends on the characteristics of death. In order to donate organs, death must occur in the intensive care unit of a hospital and death must be certified under neurological criteria,” they said. Furthermore, they added that these criteria are necessary, since only in this way can the body be artificially maintained until the moment of organ extraction. But unfortunately a death of these characteristics occurs in approximately 4 out of every 1,000 cases, they detailed in their post. On this point they added: “implying that any deceased person can be a donor implies a total ignorance of the most basic characteristics of the functioning of any organ donation system, not just the Argentine one.”

little saving angel

Giuliana Viccini is the mother of Benicio, a little boy from Rio Galicia who on December 5 will celebrate three years since he received his liver transplant.

“I think it’s more than important for people to be donors,” Giuliana said, saying, “I understand that for families who lose a loved one to make such an important decision, when all they’re trying to think about is coping with the pain of the loss, the last thing you want is to sign a paper so that they can take your relative to have his organs removed.

However, the recipients of an organ also think about themselves and what they are going through: “We are grateful,” he said, exposing his wish: “I would like to hug that mother who lost that little donor angel, and tell her how lucky she is. in life because not everyone gives life to someone they don’t know. If that family knew that we honored their strength, that we honored the life of their loved one, they would know that behind organ donation there is not only loss, there is more.”

He recognized that this gesture is not visible, which is why it is essential to reinforce the promotion of organ donation.

Asked about the controversial statements of the libertarian candidate, Beni’s mother stated that she does not share the policy of selling organs. “I think that today there is too much gap between the wealthy who can access some benefits, and those who cannot, and I’m not just talking about health.” The sale, she opined, would continue to generate more pain, and currently there will be two mothers who are grieving a loss. “In my thoughts there is always that mother who donated from her, and I have nothing but words of love for her,” she reiterated.

Finally, he pointed out that there are people who die waiting for an organ: “I saw it and I lived it. Because people don’t donate because they don’t know what’s behind it, and it’s giving someone else the opportunity to continue living.”

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Second opportunity

On November 3, Nadia Cid turned 3 years and 11 months since her two-lung transplant. “It is important for people to be donors because you never know if it could happen to you or someone close to you,” she said.

He recalled that during his hospitalization while waiting for his lungs, he had to see friends die because his chance at life never came and that hurt him a lot: “One, while waiting, makes friends both with those who are waiting and with the parents or relatives who accompany.”

Nadia received the double lung transplant at the end of 2019, after being diagnosed with primary pulmonary hypertension in 2013. She waited a long time for her organ.

Primary pulmonary hypertension is a rare disease and it was not known where it came from, she said, and reported that in 2012 she had a pregnancy loss, from which she was left with extra kilos. She kept that idea, but in reality it was an illness. They detected that her heart was enlarged, they sent her to therapy and then I spent three months on the waiting list for the two-lung transplant in Buenos Aires. On December 3, 2019, her donor arrived and she spent three more months in rehabilitation: “It was complicated, it was not easy, but the important thing is that I am alive today.”

He expressed his disagreement with the sale of organs considering that, if applied, it would be a benefit that families with a good economic position would have access to. But the most important point of his rejection of this idea is that donation is an act of love that the families of the donors decide to do.

Regarding the cost, he pointed out that his transplant cost one and a half million, an intervention that was covered by his social work – or the State in the case of those who do not have medical coverage -, money that goes to the Transplant team as well as the people who performs the ablation, who are responsible for going to look for the organ and bringing it alive to where the recipient is, plus the hospitalization.

Donate joins

Mercedes is Nazareno’s mother. A few weeks ago Naza took over the networks TimeSouth: He arrived in Río Gallegos after finishing on the podium at the Evita Games, and his great merit was not only his great sporting discipline that allowed him to win a gold and a silver medal, but also his courage to move forward. He received a liver transplant.

The young man was born with billiary atresia, which was detected less than a month after birth. The family was referred to Buenos Aires, where they were presented with the possibility of a transplant. In his short 2 years, Naza underwent surgery, which over the years paved the way for a liver transplant.

Eyes wide open

Fabián Aguirre, “Calcu” to his friends, has only words of gratitude. “At this age – 57 years old – I can say that I have been transplanted,” he indicated, pointing out that there were two angels who donated to him and that is why “I am a grateful man to be able to see again” after Myopia, Astigmatism and corneal wear such as Keratoconus.

He pointed out that there will be people waiting for a transplant, that is why he tells them “there is hope. Technology plays for us.”

He emphasized that transplants are salvation “and that makes you feel good, it puts you in that perspective of continuing on the path, like me, which is seeing again.”

Your opinion on Milei? He said: “this man is not a human being because the human being thinks, he has reason, he wants to see life from another point and he does not.” For which he regretted his statements about organ donation, “I regret it because there is nothing like being able to give life to another person.”

tireless work

“Fito” Cid is the reference for Rare Diseases in Santa Cruz and Nadia’s father. He knows like no one else what organ transplant means, which is why, together with other neighbors and people from many parts of the province, he works every day to raise awareness about donation.

“We always have to work on raising awareness because no one is free in this world. Tomorrow I could be on the other side of the sidewalk and need an organ,” she said. And although the Justina Law says that we are all donors, he commented, there is always an opportunity to reform the will to donate.

He pointed out that donation is essential to be able to give another chance at life to those who need it, and made it clear that not all of us can be donors, since we must have certain characteristics “that is why there is so much lack of donors, and even more so in pediatrics.” lament. However, this panorama does not discourage him, and Rare Diseases has donation as its flag. “Donating is an act of love,” he confirmed.

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In family

It is a good time to remember the case of Agustín Zalazar, now over 20 years old, who was detected with atresia in the bile ducts and for this reason he received a liver transplant in 2007. His donor was his father. He was transferred to the province of Buenos Aires when he was a child and spent some time there, he recalled. He said that his disease was detected when he was little, and when he was 5 years old he was transplanted.