Walter Obot

Per 8
11/19/14

You wake up in a hospital bed following a horrible car accident; lungs punctured and doctors working
madly to keep you alive. They can only do so much before the damaged organs give out. You're put on a
wait list for new lungs; but your days are numbered. Every ten minutes, another name is added this list
and another 18 people die waiting for the much desired call. People aren't willing to give up their loved
ones to save someone else’s loved ones life. I'm here today to talk about the benefits of organ donation
and why you yourself should become one. Before you make your decision, please let me tell you about
the history of organ donation.

According The US Department of Health and Human Services, organ donation has been a part of
documented human medical history since 2 BC, when in India “surgeon Suthruta who, in the second
century B.C., reportedly used skin transplantation in a nose reconstruction.” Whether or not the
procedure was successful is up for debate, because there are no documents explaining the end result.
Fast forward a few hundred years to 1869, when the first successful skin transplant was performed. Skin
transplants did not make much leaps until World War I, notably under the work of Harold Gillies
in Aldershot, England. Gillies figured out a way to maintain a flesh connection from the donor site until
the graft could establish its own blood flow, thus making it more likely that the transplant would be
successful. From then on, transplants made leaps and bounds; including the first kidney transplant in
1954 and the first heart transplant in 1967. Although the technology surrounding organ donation has
Walter Obot
Per 8
11/19/14
improved GREATLY, people still do not give organs and that is a problem.

I’m two minutes into my presentation. So far, two people are in the surgery room getting a new organ,
and one person has died waiting for the call that would have saved their life.123,928 people are waiting
for an organ, yet only 28,953 of them actually received one this year. Why is that? People aren’t giving
organs. In the book Is Selling Body Parts Ethical, a book about the lack of organs and the resultant black
market, it says that over 100 million people are signed up as organ donors. When they die, its perfectly
in their consent to have their body parts recycled and given to other in need. The major reasons that their
bodies aren't used is that their families do not want their loved ones to be, for lack of a better term,
“taken apart.” this, and that many peoples organs shut down before the transplant and that some organs
are tainted from disease, attribute to the low number of organ transplants in the US. This, and many
other factors are appalling and are easily preventable. Here are some things you can do help change the
lives of lots of individuals in need.

First and foremost, sign up to become a donor. This simple action can save the lives of up to eight
people if the situation arises. Another important thing to be is healthy. According to the Network For
Good, 20% of organs are discarded because of impurities found on the organ. Being healthy throughout
your life ensures that, in the event of your organs being given to someone else, they are not thrown away
because you smoked or drank in life. Another really important thing to do is to educate people people
about the benefits of organ donation. Education might help families see the light and not disapprove if a
Walter Obot
Per 8
11/19/14
family member dies and they are considering not letting that person not fulfill their wish.

Its near the end of my speech, about 5 minutes, and in that time, 3 more people would have gotten on the
operating table for a new organ, while two others will have died waiting for the good news. You can make a
difference in lots of people by making the choice to become an organ donor. Change the world. Choose to donate.