Sherlyn Peh Xue Lin, 14

School: Holy Innocents’ High School

Topic: What does organ donation mean to you?

Award: Merit, Junior Category, 2021

Organ donation, the gift of life

To me, organ donation is associated with life and death.

Death is inevitable, it is part of life, something we are all destined to do. But unlike death, our choice to donate our organs gives organ recipients glimmers of hope that their fate will have a change for the better.

Organ donation, the process where a person allows an organ of their own to be removed and transplanted to another person legally through the consent of the donor when alive or the assent of the next kin, is like a gift of life. It may not be widely known, but research has shown that there are as much as one hundred and fourteen thousand people waiting for an organ, with ten more added each day, daily. According to a survey in India, five hundred thousand people die because of non-availability of organs, two hundred thousand die due to liver disease and fifty thousand die because of heart disease.

Every one of us has a choice to help those in need of organs, whether as a living or deceased donor. A deceased donor can save up to eight lives, and enhance more than a hundred lives through the lifesaving and healing gift of tissue donation. A living donor can save up to five lives, and can still continue living a normal life with few restrictions.

Every donor is saving precious lives. I was greatly moved upon watching a short clip of a boy named Thomas, who was born with liver disease. With the disease, life was hard on him. Time was running out, and so was his parent’s hope, but then his life had a twist for the better when he received a liver from an anonymous donor, allowing him to continue his hobby of riding a bike. Personally, I think my rush of emotions came from how it was from an unknown donor, as it shows that not knowing who the recipient will be did not stop the donor from donating the organs, whether the donor was deceased or living.

There are many pros to organ donation. For one, you can save multiple lives, even those of your loved ones. Many people are urged on to become a donor when a loved one is in need of organ donation, especially knowing you can be the key to their recovery. Secondly, it eases the pain of losing a loved one upon the success of the organ donation. This results in families to be consoled and be able to move on more quickly, knowing that a part of the deceased is alive again and helping another person. Another thing about organ donation, is that one can also choose to donate the organs to Science, which may save even more lives. If one is not healthy enough for organ donation to another human, by providing organs to medical research, medical schools are provided with cadavers so students can learn and gain more experience during their training period. Having a body with a rare disease is a precious resource to find cures and treatments for future patients, which results in many people being saved in the future.

But, there are always two sides to everything.

No one would want to think of what might happen after one passes on, and it can be especially uncomfortable to think about donating your organs after death, particularly if you are in good health. But death is just a matter of when. One of the cons of organ donation is how one’s family members may feel uncomfortable about organ donation, especially how donor bodies are kept on life support until the organs can be harvested, which can be difficult for them. Another such point is of an open-casket funeral as even though there is not much visible difference, it may feel a bit uncomfortable. And that applies to only deceased donors. To living donors, it is a major risk as they could have rare diseases or even experience death after the surgery. Recovery can also be a painful experience which may take as much as two to twelve weeks. With the possibility of the insurance company not covering medical problems which may develop from the transplant, people are even more discouraged to support organ donation.

Personally, I am willing to donate my organs after I pass on, knowing that somewhere, two people can be freed from dialysis treatments, two people can see the world like how I did, and even more people can lead a happier life.

Disclaimer: Please note that the views and opinions expressed in the essays for the Live On Festival 2021 are those of the participants and are not endorsed by the National Organ Transplant Unit (Ministry of Health).

To learn more about organ donation and organ transplantation in Singapore, please visit www.liveon.gov.sg