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Organ Donation: A Yearly Message From PortableApps.com Founder John T. Haller

John T. Haller's picture
Submitted by John T. Haller on June 29, 2016 - 1:55pm

John T. Haller pictureAs today is my "kidneyversary", I wanted to again make a shameless blog post to remind everyone of the importance of being an organ donor. As some long-time PortableApps.com users know, I donated a kidney to my father 16 years ago today. Over the years, I've coached a few people though the process as well. If anyone is in a position where you're thinking of donating to a friend or loved one, I'm more than happy to share my experience and advice.

More importantly, there's something you can do today that won't require much on your part: signing up for the organ donor program in your state or country. In the US alone, 120,000 people are currently waiting for an organ. The best part is that becoming a donor is relatively easy (become a donor in the US). If you're not in the US, there's likely a similar organization in your country. Once registered, if something happens to you, you can leave a legacy behind by saving the lives of others. In some countries, being an organ donor is the default unless you opt-out. So, be sure to check what your country's policies are and that you're registered.

If you'd like to do something a bit more, you can also sign up to donate bone marrow through Be The Match. Bone marrow donation can help and even cure life-threatening blood cancers like leukemia and lymphoma. You make an optional (but encouraged) donation, swab your cheek, and then wait to see if you match someone who needs a bone marrow transplant. If they do, there's a process to donation that's explained on the site. It's a bit more involved than donating blood, but since you'll be responsible for directly saving someone's life, it's worth it. I have a friend who's donated. I've been on the list for years but haven't been matched yet.

Lastly, there's always signing up to give blood. Your local blood bank or hospital will have the details on it. It's doesn't take too long, doesn't hurt much, and your single pint of blood can be used to help save up to three lives. Plus, free snacks!

That's it for this quick blog post. I apologize for going off the topic of portable apps again, but I wanted to share something that was important to me. And, who knows, together, we could help save the life of someone who goes on to develop cool new software for us all to enjoy. There, now it's related!

Have a great week and thank you for your time.

Best,
John

Comments

Hi John.

It's really nice of you to step forward and encourage others to do the same! Really inspiring!

Earth is a bit better place because of you.

Greetings from Slovenia,
Filip.

Damian_Adelle's picture

Damian_Adelle

July 1, 2016 - 10:54pm

Hey Mr Haller, it's nice to hear from you, and I hope your father is doing well. When I was a kid in the 90's there was this urban legend around, about bad things happening to organ donors (check the Snopes article about it, for those as paranoid as me Blum http://www.snopes.com/medical/emergent/donor.asp), so I always grew with this fear of being an organ donor. It's crazy but that's how I thought back then, now I understand how important it is to leave behind that legacy. It's a shame that in my country the whole "process" of blood donation can take up to 4-5 hours Shock besides of extracting a sample of blood first, they got to discard those who aren't eligible, add to that understaffing issues and not enough equipment to haste the process. I mean, I don't mind the waiting a couple of times a year, but a lot of people can't wait that long, no matter how much they would like to help others.
I've read about the changes people who have donated a kidney need to do on their daily lives, could you talk about how's been affecting you?, I'm pretty sure every experience is slightly different.
Good weekend everybody. Smile