The Benefits of Organ and Tissue Donation, Speech Example

Ladies and gentlemen, the debate on organ donation has been illusively debated yet its imperativeness is untold. I hereby take this opportunity to share with you my sentiments appertaining to organ donation with a hope that the sentiments that I will share with you will serve as an epoch to your consideration on organ donation (Moylan et al., 2371-2378). By so doing you will have an opportunity to bestow the gift of life to deserving recipients after you have left the world.

The United States Organ and Tissue Transplantation Association, defines organ donation as tissue or organ removal from a departed or living donor, for purposes of transplantation. Surgical procedures are applied to remove tissues and organs which are later transplanted to a beneficiary to enhance their recovery. Organ donors can give their essential organs when alive or departed, this is to mean that those living donors can give paired organs such as kidneys while others do so after they die. Organ donation and transplantation are highly regulated and enforced through strict requirements and standards by the United States government. The underlying concept behind Organ donation is to give recipients, who are at the edge of survival due to illness, a new lease of life.

Ladies and gentlemen it is a fact on file that Organ transplants save lives for instance Heart transplants saves the lives of patients with complications related to congenital heart disease and coronary artery disorders. For patients suffering from diseases such as, pulmonary fibrosis, cystic fibrosis, emphysema or pulmonary hypertension, lung transplant comes in handy to save lives. Patients suffering from illnesses associated to hepatitis or biliary atresia are assisted by means of a liver transplant. Cases of acute diabetes, hypertension or polycystic kidney disease are well addressed through Kidney transplants for patients.

Ladies and gentlemen you might be considering becoming an organ donor, but you might not be fully convinced of the many benefits of organ donation, for the donor and the beneficiary. Ladies and gentlemen, it is amazing to note that there are more than 79,000 patients awaiting transplant and another 3000 joining the statistics monthly (Resnick, 15-20). Sadly enough an average of 17 people die after awaiting a transplant in vein on a daily basis. Ladies and gentlemen let me reveal further that 10 percent of patients in the waiting list are children less than 18 years. Statistically according to Donate Life America, over 106,000 Americans are desperately in need of donated organ, tissue and corneal transplants while there are over 86 million registered tissue, organ and eye donors throughout America (Resnick, 15-20). This statistics are an indicator of the shortage of organs an issue that demands more attention. The donor list further shrunken by the regulatory procedure that demands that a potential donor must be free of communicable diseases ultimately meet behavioral and medical criterion.

Ladies and gentlemen it is very easy to help and all you need to do is to contact your local doctor who will formally introduce you to a simple procedure. Your deliberation to donate your organs, will be the starting point of saving life because once you are gone organs will be removed and will assure somebody else the chance to live. The survival rate after a transplant of a vital organ is over 80% compared to only 20% chance to live if the organ was not availed. In a word your vital organs can be very useful after you are gone as much as you are alive.

Ladies and gentlemen the gift of life remains to be the most astounding gift anybody can give or receive. Several logical arguments drove me towards becoming a donor, I realized that after I depart I will never need my organs anymore so why should I deny someone else a chance to use them (Hamilton,, 97). Some people are concerned about the state of their body after surgery or whether they will still have the privilege of getting an open casket funeral. The truth of the matter is that your body will be treated with all due respect and accorded a usual open casket funeral if you so wish.

You can be a partner in saving Lives and Making a Difference because one organ donor can save up to 8 lives. In most cases organ transplant recipients are liberated from costly routine treatments to survive thus Improving quality of life for transplant recipients. It opens a new chapter to many recipients to go back to a normal lifestyle for instance an eye or tissue transplant means the gift to see again or the recovery of mobility and relief from pain. For the donors family the pain of losing a loved one is cushioned by the knowledge that their loss will help to save or improve the life of other people. Accepting to be an organ donor remains to be the noblest charitable act of selflessness. My humble request is that you will consider what I have told you today and make the first step towards bringing change.

Religious and cultural objections to organ donation

Some of the cultures as well as religions prohibit donation but do not prohibit transplants among their members. The groups that disfavor organ donation include Shinto, the non-universalistic faiths, and the Gypsy cultures. However, they do not completely restrict their members from donating or receiving the organs. Some believe that the organs are taken from the dead such as the brain-dead organs that are extracted from an individual with a kicking heart.

Works cited

Hamilton, David. A History of Organ Transplantation: Ancient Legends to Modern Practice. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2012.

Moylan CA., C.W. Brady, J.L. Johnson, A.D. Smith, J.E. Tuttle-Newhall  and A.J. Muir. “Disparities in Liver Transplantation Before and After Introduction of the MELD Score.” JAMA 300 (2008): 2371-2378.

Resnick D. “The Jesica Santillen Tragedy: Lessons Learned.” Hastings Center Report 33 (2003): 15-20.