Are you an organ donor?

Waste can be painful to accept, especially when it costs a life.

Know someone with high blood pressure, diabetes, or renal/kidney disease? They're more likely to need an organ one day. Because certain ethnic groups, including people with Asian, African, and Hispanic backgrounds, are statistically more vulnerable to these conditions, they comprise a relatively higher percentage - almost 35 percent - of the 123,000 Americans waiting for organ donation. Each day 18 die a preventable death.

This is National Minority Organ Donor Awareness Week.

While the odds of compatibility increase when both donor and recipient share race or ethnic background, neither is necessary for a potential match. Compatibility begins simply with blood and tissue type. Most people with a healthy organ can help.

We have the power. To allow a sick child to live. The blind to see.

Why then are so few donors? We won't need our eyes, skin, hearts, livers, bones, or kidneys past death; unneeded organs from just one person could save one life, or eight. Some things we may even safely donate while living, such as marrow, a kidney, or tissue, without detriment and with all expenses covered. One person can enhance the lives of up to 50 people on the transplant list.

Thanks to the care taken by surgeons and funeral directors and the availability of certain prosthetics, donation does not preclude an open-casket funeral for those who want one. Most religions strongly support donation (see official statements submitted to Organdonor.gov/about/religiousviews.html).

So why not at least tick the box on the driver's license?

Death is creepy, a fact of life many have trouble facing. Bad movies which play upon fears feed fallacies. We imagine Dr. Jekyll-like, unethical types taking bribes and letting the injured die just to harvest an organ for a waiting patient. Life is not Hollywood. Not that most people would lack the humanity to need it, but there is an elaborate system in place - laws, ethics, procedures, and cross-checks.

Fear not; coma is not enough. Most deceased donors have had head trauma or a fatal stroke. After the medical team exhausts all life-saving efforts without response (yes, there is a checklist with more than one person verifying), a physician - usually a neurologist - conducts several tests for brain death. That's no breathing and no brain activity at all.

Once death is thus verified they check for donor consent, through the donor registry or, if not registered, the family. If consent is present, next comes the health evaluation to see if the person has something to donate. If the answer is yes, a registry official checks the waiting list in the national Organ Procurement and Transplant Network to look for potential matches. Factors at this stage include blood type, tissue type, height, weight, how long the patient has been waiting, severity of the patient's illness, and distance between donor's and patient's hospitals. The list does not reference race, gender, income or social status.

The computer generates a list of potential matches by organ type. Each organ is offered to the first patient on the computer match list, if the transplant surgeon determines the organ is medically suitable. About 75 percent of organs go to local patients. Throughout this process, the donor's body is maintained on artificial support and the condition of each organ is carefully monitored by the hospital medical staff and the procurement coordinator (OPO).

Which brings to mind the final element: The OPO. According to federal regulations, each case involves a trained coordinator who travels to the hospital from a local or regional organ procurement organization. In the Inland Northwest this is Life Center Northwest, based in Bellevue, Wash., with satellite offices in Spokane and Missoula.

Moved to register, but want to limit what can be donated according to personal beliefs? You can do that at the state donor registry (YesIdaho.org). For a lot more information on the need, use, and process of organ donation see Organdonor.gov and LCNW.org.

Sholeh Patrick is an organ donor and columnist for the Hagadone News Network. Contact her at Sholeh@cdapress.com.