{"id":31312,"date":"2019-01-11T03:57:50","date_gmt":"2019-01-11T11:57:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=31312"},"modified":"2019-01-09T15:20:38","modified_gmt":"2019-01-09T23:20:38","slug":"organ-donation-awareness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2019\/01\/11\/organ-donation-awareness\/","title":{"rendered":"Organ donation awareness"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Left to right are panelists at a\nrecent National Council of Jewish Women panel on organ transplants: Dr. Aviva\nGoldberg, Rabbi Yossi Benarroch, Marshall Miller and Na\u2019ama Miller. (photo\nfrom NCJW)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Dec. 11, the Winnipeg section of National\nCouncil of Jewish Women (NCJW) held an organ donation awareness event,\nfeaturing community members Rabbi Yossi Benarroch, Dr. Aviva Goldberg, and\nhusband (organ recipient) and wife (organ donor) Marshall and Na\u2019ama Miller.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Benarroch spoke first, after a welcome from organizers and a video about organ donation (youtube.com\/watch?v=5cfaAWTH5zM<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe short of it is, basically, that Jewish law\npermits organ donations,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s no question about that. Of course,\nwhen we talk about law, law is complicated and there are lots of opinions.\nThere\u2019s an ideal in Judaism, which is one of those foundations, and it\u2019s called\n\u2018pikuach nefesh doche hakol\u2019 … which basically means that, in Judaism,\nthere\u2019s nothing more important than saving a life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m a very observant Jew and I keep kosher,\u201d\nhe said, \u201cbut if I had to eat something that wasn\u2019t kosher \u2013 pork or whatever \u2013\nin order to save my life, then Jewish law says you\u2019re obligated to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Benarroch said it is written that, if someone\nsaves a life, it is as if they have saved the entire world. Furthermore, he\nsaid, we are called to not stand idly by if another person is suffering. \u201cWe\nare obligated to intervene and actually obligated to help that individual,\u201d he\nsaid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marshall Miller, who was diagnosed with\nprogressive kidney disease more than 25 years ago, eventually required\nreplacement therapy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSlowly, over time, my kidney failure began to\nget worse and worse,\u201d he shared. \u201cThe disease progressed to the point where, a\nfew years back, my GP at the time said, \u2018Marshall, you\u2019re now at the point\nwhere you have to go see a specialist because I can\u2019t do anything more for you\nhere … you need an expert to deal with your situation.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEverybody who suffers from kidney disease\nunderstands that, what kidneys do, among many things, is purify your blood.\nWhen your blood isn\u2019t being purified properly, you can start to feel kind of\nlousy. I think my family can attest to the fact that I was starting to feel\nlousy. I think my whole family suffered along as I did, as I got sicker and\nsicker.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When his kidney function was down to less than\n10%, the specialist started talking seriously about replacement therapy. This\ninvolved dialysis three times a week until a matching donor could be found.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the search for a donor, Na\u2019ama Miller\ndecided to find out if she might be able to help other people in her husband\u2019s\nsituation. As it turned out, she was a match for her husband.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe were told it was a one hundred million\nshot,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd so, we were next faced with a bit of a dilemma …\nbecause it was scary for the kids. But Samantha and Maya were very much in\nfavour of it, because they didn\u2019t want me to be miserable anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She said, \u201cPeople ask me, how I could do this\n… if it was hard. I give everyone the same answer. It was a no-brainer, a\nvery easy decision for me. As Marshall said … we were all suffering along\nwith him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s worth it. You saved a life,\u201d her husband\nadded. \u201cWe hope this event here \u2013 even if only one more person signs up …\nhopefully, more and more people will choose to do it among the Jewish community\nafter hearing the story.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the Millers spoke, a second video was\nscreened, about a former Winnipegger who donated a kidney to save the life of a\nwoman in California, who he has never met.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRight now, in Canada, there are over 4,500\npeople waiting for an organ transplant \u2013 4,500 Marshalls,\u201d said Goldberg, who\nis the director of the Canadian Society of Transplantation and chair of the\nTransplant Manitoba kidney allocation review committee. \u201cWe don\u2019t have 4,500\nNa\u2019amas. That\u2019s why we need donors \u2013 both living and also deceased donors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what we want to talk about today,\u201d she\nsaid, \u201ceven if you don\u2019t go forward to become a living donor, which is a really\nbig deal. It\u2019s not something that every person in this room is going to be able\nto do and that\u2019s totally fair. But, there\u2019s something that everyone in this\nroom can do and that\u2019s to sign up for organ donation after you\u2019ve died \u2013 say\nthat this is something I\u2019d like to do, that you\u2019d like to leave a legacy …\nyou can save lives after you\u2019ve died, either with organ or tissue donation. You\ncan save lives by donating organs \u2013 heart, liver, lungs, pancreas, kidneys and\neven small bowel \u2013 but, also tissue donation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In some cases, people can donate their corneas\nto help improve the life of others. According to Goldberg, Manitoba, last year,\nwas the fourth on the world list of most donors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Goldberg implored people to sign up as\ndonors online, she further reminded them that talking to family about your\nwillingness to be a donor is also very important \u2013 and not just immediate\nfamily, as they might be in the same car with you when you have a horrific\naccident, for example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe way that organ donation works in Canada,\nhere, in Manitoba, is that after someone has died and they are potentially\ngoing to be an organ donor, their family is approached,\u201d said Goldberg. \u201cIf you\nsign up for the registry, it\u2019s a way of saying to your family, on the very\nworst day of their lives, that this is something your loved one wanted \u2013 wanted\nso much that they went to the registry, signed up, made that choice. It\u2019s a\nhard discussion to have … [but] it\u2019s so important to do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the question-and-answer period, one\nattendee asked if there was an age limit for someone to donate an organ. The\nanswer? \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another question was about the possibility of\nrejection and, to that, Marshall Miller shared his experience. \u201cI suffered from\na mild early rejection,\u201d he said. \u201cBut, the ability to detect the rejection and\nbe able to remedy it is incredible. They were able to treat me with medication\ninstantaneously and, really, it was a non-issue for me. Even though there is a\nrisk of rejection, it can easily be found if you attend your appointments and\ntake your medication.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For information on organ donation in British Columbia and to register, visit transplant.bc.ca<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rebeca Kuropatwa<\/strong> is a Winnipeg freelance writer.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Left to right are panelists at a recent National Council of Jewish Women panel on organ transplants: Dr. Aviva Goldberg, Rabbi Yossi Benarroch, Marshall Miller and Na\u2019ama Miller. (photo from NCJW) On Dec. 11, the Winnipeg section of National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW) held an organ donation awareness event, featuring community members Rabbi Yossi […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":31313,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[6977,218,1667,5781],"class_list":["post-31312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","tag-healthcare","tag-judaism","tag-ncjw","tag-organ-donation"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31312"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31312\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}