An important week

DONATELIFE WEEK 24 FEBRUARY – 3 MARCH 2013
MAKE YOUR WISH COUNT. DISCOVER, DECIDE AND DISCUSS ORGAN AND TISSUE DONATION.

Did you know that around 1% of all hospital deaths occur in the specific circumstances where a person can be considered for organ donation?

1 in 2 Australians do not know that few of us will actually have the chance to become an organ donor, although many more can become tissue donors. When people become aware of this fact, the overwhelming majority (84%) are more motivated to decide they would like to become a donor.

As an organ and tissue donor, you could transform the lives of 10 or more people. But to make your wish count, we all need to discover the facts about organ and tissue donation and to register our decision on the Australian Organ Donor Register.

And to make every wish count, every Australian family needs to know each other’s wishes. This is because in Australia the family of every potential donor is always asked to confirm the donation wishes of their loved one before organ and/or tissue donation can proceed.
During DonateLife Week, Sunday 24 February – Sunday 3 March 2013, take some time to share your wish with your family and close friends, and ask them about their wishes.

Although 77% of Australians have now talked about organ and tissue donation with their family, and 71% of people believe that their family knows their donation wishes, only 56% of Australians say that they know the donation wishes of their loved ones. This highlights the need for all Australians to remind their family members’ about their donation wishes as well as to ask and know the wishes of family members.

DonateLife Week is Australia's national awareness week to promote organ and tissue donation. It is led by the Organ and Tissue Authority as part of the national DonateLife campaign and supported by community events and activities across Australia.
For more information www.donatelife.gov.au

And if I didnt say it eloquently enough- here's someone who can possibly say it better!  Visiting her made what could be a difficult conversation a bit easier with a naturally curious child (who will happily explain to her friends who go 'yuk' that it's better than dying!). 

And if you can, check out the photography exhibition Cam encouraged us all to enter! Cant't wait to go and see it myself! I'm taking the tissues....
 

blogtoberfest day 21

I left it too late to post last night, so thought i'd better do it earlier tonight!

Thought i'd share my oppy gains I got today.

A vintage plate for $6....

to go with the smaller one I already had!

and.....ta da! 2 Jamie Oliver's hardcovers for $4.75 each. To add to the collection of cookbooks I might feel like using one day. At least 99% of them are op shopped!

A spot of oppying was what I needed after (gladly) joining in on Cam's roller coaster today- see over here for her amazing story, and over here to sign up to be one of the angels that gives life. (And tell your family too!)

I've left this title blank, as I don't know how to label it.

I'm sending out an appeal for offal- that's right, those yucky bits of your body we think are 'awful'! Well, guess what, to some, those body parts are life saving! Hearts, lungs, kidney, eyes etc. Why take them with you, now they are no longer working for you?

Even without knowing amazing people that will possibly need organs, I would be right behind this drive- as a Registered Nurse in Intensive Care, I was privileged enough to be with families making these decisions, and see the 'calm' that overcame them as they knew their loved one hadn't died in vain. That their loved one could help so many others.

I was pretty pumped 11 weeks ago when I gave blood- wow, I helped 3-4 people in 15mins? And I got food? The best thing I could do is give my organs that I don't need, that would, in some animals, get thrown in the bin, and give them to someone that needs them. And my child's. Why shouldn't she be able to help someone if, God forbid, I lost her.

But do you know the BEST thing about organ donation? It doesn't matter if you're black, white, green, purple, gay, straight, Christian, Muslim, Purple-People-eater- you would be very welcome, no matter where you end up!~

Head over here for more info!