Each day, roughly 80 people receive an organ transplant as a result of an organ donation.
With 119,000 people currently on the waiting list for an organ transplant, it is important that we recognize the tremendous need for organ donators and recognize the people that are willing to be one.
For many years, you could typically only donate an organ if you were young and relatively healthy at the time of your death. It wasn’t until recently that senior citizens were able to donate their own organs and contribute to saving a life of someone in need.
The elderly population is now living longer and healthier lives. Many seniors are taking part in the same physical activities as younger generations, better maintain their physical bodies.
Up until recently, the U.S. has had a very strict policy for age donation cut-offs.
According to the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, 618 out of 9,079 organ donors in 2015, were 65 or older.
The kidney, specifically, is an organ that can be donated by a deceased elderly that there is a tremendous need for. A study conducted at the University of Torino determined that the age of an organ should not play a factor in whether or not they are donation appropriate, especially kidneys.
The organ recipient survival and organ function rate was very high in older adults.
A 76-year-old San Diego woman passed suddenly last year from a brain hemorrhage, despite living an active live. She wanted to be an organ donor and thankfully, due to new research and lightened restrictions, she donated her corneas, kidneys, liver and tissue.
Hopefully as researchers and doctors continue to study the benefits of using older organs, more people’s lives can be saved through organ donation.
