83 year old man is an altruistic kidney donor

[mrs_overall]

This story gladdened my heart. 8% of the British population have said they would be willing to do the same. If they did, there would no longer be a kidney transplant waiting list. I am also a great believer that we should adopt an "opt out" system.

http://www.iol.co.za/...ates-kidney-1.1299122

[mrs_overall]

Ah, I see.

<<<<<gives head a shake>>>>>

[mrs_overall]

Sqad, I hear what you are saying, but some people would be willing to accept a "marginal" organ

[Sqad]

MrsO....quite.

[anneasquith]

i am baffled why britain dont have the " opt out " system ?

[mrs_overall]

Me too anne

[flip_flop]

I have yet to hear a reasonable argument against having an opt-out system.

When this has been debated on AB before, the argument has been put forth that doctors would be too hasty in pronouncing a death in order to harvest organs, but unless I'm seeing the medical profession through rose tinted specs, I just can't see the liklihood of medics whipping out organs with gay abandon in this manner.

I'd go further - those that do choose to opt-out forfeit their right to be a recipient.

[tonyav]

Opt out of what ?.

[gness]

When I couldn`t donate a friend offered and was a perfect match. Close to the date for the op the hospital changed their mind because the illness, FSGS, was likely to cause the new kidney to fail. Don`t know why that wasn`t said earlier. Months later he was offered a slightly damaged kidney from a dead donor with plasma exchange sessions to try to cure the FSGS. It was an experiment but it worked. At the end of the plasma exchange he contracted Cdiff and that caused his death.

[mrs_overall]

Oh gness, that is so sad, after all he had been through xx

Fatbum - the "opt out" system would mean that your organs (if suitable) could automatically be used for transplantation after your death unless you had specifically opted out.

[tonyav]

Righto, mrs overhang thanks for that.

[joko]

what a nice gesture...although generally perhaps they think most people of that age should not be having 'unecessary' surgery.
this guy was obviously very healthy but most of a similar age just would not survive an op like that.

i think an old working kidney is better than a younger failing one, so people woul dbe daft to turn them down because of age

not sure id donate to a stranger now while still alive... at 40 ...but when im 80, i probably would....assuming the other was healthy.

[mrs_overall]

joko, live donors are statistically the healthiest people in the country - the tests the conduct on them are very rigorous.

[joko]

yes, but at that age i mean, it must be hard to find donors of that age.

[mrs_overall]

He is certainly the oldest live donor ever. He must be superfit.
I don't think there is a national "cut off" age for live donors, but 65 is normally the upper limit

[modeller]

All cells of the body have a finite life i.e they renew themselves a finite number of times. So a 85 year old kidney may be working perfectly but it would still have a limited life .

[seadogg]

Same with blood. I was told That age would bar me from giving any more.

[jno]

that's a shame, seadogg. It would feel quite historic to receive some blood that had been at the Battle of Trafalgar.

[mrs_overall]

modeller, I take note of what you are saying.
I'm sure everything was explained in full to the recipient who obviously decided to take his/her chance with what would be classed as a "marginal" organ.
Even if it only works for a year, the donated kidney will give a massive boost to the recipients endocrine system. This boost will last long after the donated kidney has failed.

Seadogg - it is a noble gesture to want to give blood but at 107 maybe you are a tad too old.
I was outside your M&S this afternoon watching a fight between 4 women, all with pushchairs in tow! The Romanian accordian player carried on as if nothing was happening.

[bigbadmarty]

if she's anywhere nearly as accomplished as our Romanian accordion players it would be difficult to tell if she inadvertently played a different note ...

[paddywak]

I donated my first pint of blood two days after my eighteenth birthday and continued to donate until stopped by ill health, I've always carried a donor card and Trish and and all my family know my feelings on this subject, if I was ill and and needed a transplant I'd like to think it was there and if you want something out of a system you should be prepared to put something back into the system so when I go they can take anything that they can use and good luck to anybody who gets my bits. I hope if I was in the same situation as this gentleman I'd do the same thing.