Bucks County Herald – April 3, 2008

Frank Nardi Organ Donors

Dear Friends,

Good morning. Mighty Betsy and I sing with Frank Nardi, a professional singer from Pennsauken, New Jersey and a walking miracle. Frank has a new kidney and pancreas, donated organs from generous Americans who believe in the gift of life.

Last week we sang Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana with the Philadelphia Orchestra. With its fast rhythms and raucous singing, it’s a physically demanding piece. He handled “Carmina” with ease.

I called Donate Life America for their most recent statistics about organ donation. There are 98,044 patients awaiting organ transplants, but only 28,923 organ transplants took place last year. So 70,000 didn’t receive the gift of life. Waiting lists have grown so large that the average waiting time for a kidney now exceeds three years. According to Critical Care Nurse (CCN) magazine (April 2006), the number of brain dead potential donors in the United States is between 10,500 and 13,800.

“In 2004, a total of 7,151 patients died while waiting for an organ transplant,” CCN reported. There are 3,077 counties in the U.S., which equates to an average need of 33 per county in any given year. For every two Bucks County municipalities, there could be a patient needing an organ. By donating a loved one’s organs, as many as eight lives could be saved today.

Frank Nardi’s pancreas failed 34 years ago. “I was a diabetic for more than 30 years,” he wrote for the Camden Courier-Post (Jan. 27). “I had to take insulin injections three times a day. The diabetes eventually caused kidney failure and I had to go on peritoneal kidney dialysis every day for 20 months. My body was breaking down rapidly. Had I not received my new organs, I would have died.”

Frank told me that 18 people die each day from the lack of available organs for transplant. I remembered a talk, which Arthur Caplan gave on Benjamin Franklin’s birthday last year. The University of Pennsylvania bio-ethicist was asked what Franklin would have recommended for medicine if he lived today.

Caplan believes that had our founding fathers lived in the 21^st Century, they would have included organ harvesting in the United States Constitution. Caplan thinks that Franklin would have convinced the delegates to make organ harvesting [at death] a fact of life. Caplan believes that Americans would benefit from a federal law, which mandates organ harvesting [at death] unless a citizen specifically refuses to have his eyes, tissues, bones, and organs taken. I agree with him.

The Associated Press ran a story (Jan. 14) about Great Britain considering overhauling its organ donation system to make it easier for doctors to remove body parts from deceased patients without prior consent. “Switching to a Spanish-style “opt-out” system- in which consent is presumed- could save thousands of lives,” Britain’s Prime Minister Gordon Brown wrote in the Sunday Telegraph newspaper. Belgium’s system about organ harvesting may be similar to Spain’s.

Since America does not have the Spanish or Belgium system, we rely on the presumptive approach. It’s based upon two philosophical assumptions: (1) that most Americans, when given the opportunity to save a life will do so, and (2) that organ donation is the right thing to do.

Pennsylvania does not require family consent for organ donations but it’s best to keep the family informed of your wishes. The next time you have your driver’s license renewed, be sure to have the “Organ Donor” designation added.

Donate Life in America says that there is no cost to the donor or their family for organ or tissue donation. There are several websites, which I found useful. They are: www.donatelife.org and www.unos.org. The toll free number is 1-804-782-4920.

Frank Nardi is an inspiration. “I’m very lucky,” he told me. Two years ago, Frank thought that he’d never have the physical strength to pack a wallop with his voice. “I didn’t think I’d have my voice production return…but I push the envelope.

“It’s been two years since I received my organ[s] transplants and I’m alive today to celebrate life with my family and friends,” Frank said. “Please let your family know now that you want to be an organ donor. It will save someone’s life. It saved mine.”

Betsy and I have registered as organ donors. It appears on our driver licenses. Please join us.

Sincerely,

Charles Meredith