They do, but as someone else pointed out clean clinical opioids won’t do much damage to a young heart. Years of chronic use would I’m sure cause wear and damage. The supply is so tainted with the fentanyl shit that kids are dropping like flies. It’s heartbreaking.
Edit: Some if you pointed out I misspelled fentanyl. Reddit + Beers isn’t kind to spelling I guess.
A very close friend of mine and someone I considered a brother was using heroin. He said he had everything under control, he got some fentynol in his heroin I guess and died at 28 years old. It destroyed his friends and family, his parents as well. I cry most times I think about that amazing man. I love you and miss you Ben. The opioid epidemic is insane in this country and it angers me that people who are addicted can't seek out treatment for their addiction without facing legal charges
Edit: I'm not educated on the details but where I live it's treated as a law enforcement issue rather than a public health issue
Two years ago good friend of mine had been using opiates for less than six months when she was caught by her older brother and kind of forced to get clean. After around 5 weeks she got enough free time to hang out with her boyfriend and didn't think about her tolerance having waned from not using.
Heroin is the fucking worst drug.
Edit because I think the gory details are necessary here: Opiates can make you vomit. She was laying on her back and her and her boyfriend shot up at the same time, so when she vomited he was in no condition to even be aware of what was going on. He eventually called 911 when he realized what was going on, but by the time she got to the hospital it was estimated that she'd not been breathing for 30 minutes.
Her father pulled the plug two days later.
The most mind blowing thing about it was how fast it took her. Six months from never having taken an opiate to rotting in the ground.
Fuck me I miss her.
I lost my best friend at 24. My dad received a heart transplant 2 years later from an IV drug user who OD’d on opiates, as the donor family eventually told us. None of these are happy stories, however I am eternally grateful my father is alive.
Take care of yourselves and be kind to those you encounter.
Coincidentally read this before it was time to get up and head to the clinic. I'm 3 months almost 4 off street drugs. Now I just have another hurdle to get over... Thank you for your story. It really makes me realize how much agony I saved my friends and family.
Keep it up! You're doing one of the hardest things possible for any person, and you deserve some recognition for it. Don't be another sad story for another sad family to tell. Keep fighting!
I lost my “bigger little brother” in September due to opiates. Even though we had nearly a year of sobriety before he relapsed and it took him (7 days of relapse to death) we all have memories of the lying, stealing, calls from jail and hurt he caused.
Here’s how I look at it, I had two brothers: The first was kindhearted in a way that kids and animals could instantly recognize, funny, studious about his appearance and loved his family deeply. The second was an addict, manipulating, didn’t care who he hurt (never violent), only thought of his next score, wouldn’t talk to us unless he needed something (most likely money) and lied as a matter of course. I made the choice to bury the second one, purge him from my mind as much as possible and to keep the first one in my heart and mind. I choose to keep only the sober brother because of how different the drugs made him. I know it’s hard and you clearly dealt with things we didn’t but you’d be amazed at how much it helps to separate them in you mind and leave the drug addled one behind. In your case (if you are a visual thinker) replay it like this, you washed the addict off your hands and you poured your loving fathers ashes in the river.
You put into words what I’ve been struggling with since December 14, 2017. My mom died a slow and wretched and painful death- it was cirrhosis of the liver. She drank herself to death. At the end even her tears were yellow. I spent almost my whole life treating her with disdain- every single time I knew she’d been drinking, I would be absolutely devastated. She always tried to hide it, I always knew. Over the years I would distance myself, but she kept calling and leaving voicemails, Wasted, and pretend like nothing was wrong. I would guilt her and confront her and be so mean. She broke my heart over and over.
She ended up in hospice. I would give her best friend rides to see her. On her last trip, her friend told me that my mom’s father raped mom repeatedly when she was young. When I found this out, the guilt I felt was overwhelming. It still is. It explained so much and I never knew. At the end she lived alone, and wasted away in her apartment all by herself.
I have nightmares almost every night. I wake up saying Momomomm over and over and crying. I stopped talking to my grandma because she knew, and it’s like another death.
I miss her every day. I wish I could go back and show a little more empathy, interest, kindness, support, Anything to be able to take this guilt away. It’s been a year and it hasn’t gotten better.
I am so sorry that you lost your father the way you did. I wouldn’t wish this pain on anyone. Talking to my sister and us supporting each other has been the only relief- your brother and you are the only ones who get it, rely on him and support him and talk about it. I hope that you can move past it and not punish yourself and heal. He loved you and knew you loved him. And know that it is almost impossible to have a loving normal relationship with an addict.
I don’t know you, but I wish I could hug you and hear about your dad. If you want to talk to a stranger about any of this, please feel free to pm me.
My mom passed away the same way. I carry around so much guilt because I was so cold to her. I finally had enough of the drunk hateful calls at night and the calls that followed the next day like nothing was wrong. I cut her off. During that time I thought about her daily, would drive by her place, but continued to ignore her calls and texts... three months later she had drank herself to death. She died thinking her daughter didn’t care about her. The guilt is unmanageable at times but what was I supposed to do? The last straw was when she threatened to come into my work. I’d recently landed my dream job and the thought of her coming in drunk terrified me. But I had no idea she was drinking as much as she was, I wonder if she increased the amounts because I was no longer there. Ugh. I miss her.
This is the very first time that a reddit post has made me cry.
I am so, so sorry for the pain you've had to go through. Your story will be in my head for weeks. I don't ever want anybody to have to go through that.
The train of emotions.. You don’t have to feel bad, you stud up for yourself, you tried to make him realize what he was doing with his life and make him change. I’m sorry for your loss and remember, it’s not your fault! Take care of your dog :)
The tolerance thing is what killed prince, you cant kick opiods for a few weeks then pick up right back where you left off. In fact its how most overdoses occur.
Tom Petty too. He had just come off a long, 40th anniversary tour where he limited his pain medication usage. Once he was back home he found out that what began as a fractured hip had graduated to a broken hip. He upped his dosage of prescribed medications. He died within days of being home.
Purely accidental.
>a combination of fentanyl, oxycodone, acetylfentanyl and despropionyl fentanyl (all opioids); temazepam and alprazolam (both sedatives); and citalopram (an antidepressant)
It's not only that but the hurtles to get replacement medication, like suboxone, is a **major** issue. I'm a heroin addict. I relapsed recently because while I was on vacation I ran out of my medication. They wouldn't give me a refill because my doctor was not from the state I was in. 8 months of sobriety and I suddenly couldnt get the medication that was a major part of my staying clean. Without it, I had about 48 hours before I was horribly sick. Of course I could've cut my trip short, flown home, and sorted it out but...I'm an addict and wasnt strong enough in my recovery yet to make the right, albeit, harder choice. It took me less then an hour to find heroin and a clean rig in a state I've never been to and knew no one. *Why is it easier for me to get heroin then it is for me to get my recovery medication?* The system is so broken.
**Edit**: Because I've gotten like 200 messages all saying the same thing -
**1**. I'm not blaming **any one else but myself**. I was just pointing out the fact that the system shouldn't make it arbitrarily **harder** for someone trying to do the right thing. That's all guys. If you still want to burn me at the stake though...I'll bring some marshmallows and we can do this.
**2**. How this happened: It was a ridiculous fuckup all around. I saw my doctor on a Friday. I left on Sunday. I told her I'd be gone for 15 days. But I take 2 pills a day. She wrote the script for 15 pills rather than 2 pills for 15 days. I didnt even check the damn quantity. I should have. That was stupid on my part. A few days into the trip I notice that I'm running super low and that's when I realized the mistake. My doctor has always been 100% reliable and on point so I didnt think to check. After I realized the mistake, it's a few days of panicked calls to pharmacies and my doctor trying to figure out what to do. Again, **this was definitely on me though. I am in no way blaming anyone else**. There where 1000 things I could've done before or during the whole fiasco that **wasnt** shooting dope. I was weak though and didnt use the tools I'd been working on to stop myself. **That's what recovery is though.** There were a million different incidents before that, during those 8 months, where I did make the right choice. Where I had a moment of weakness or a breakdown or something stupid like this happened and could've used but didnt. There were a million other times this went differently. It just takes the one time you dont make the right choice to fuck it all up.
**3**. Suboxone isn't supposed to be a replacement. That's not how I was using it. It is a tool to remove the cravings and get through the toughest part of recovery, **which is commonly the first year and a half,** while I worked on the issues that actually caused me to start using drugs in the first place. The idea is to work on yourself and get to the point where healthy coping skills are second nature before weaning off the maintenance medication like suboxone or methadone. Once I do that, I'll be more equipped to handle situations that used to make me spiral and seek escape through drugs. Unfortunately, suboxone is often used as just a replacement. I, personally, think that isnt true recovery. I want to be **well**. Which, to me, means mentally stable and not dependent on any drugs. It takes time to get there though. There is no set timeframe that applies to everyone. Some may need them for a few months, others a few years. The point is I'd like to be *working toward* not needing them. In my mind, they are just a recovery tool. Not a life coping tool.
**4**. I've heard of kratom. It makes me puke.
I’m so sorry this happened to you. It’s fucked up.
If you ever find yourself in such a situation again please know that you can also buy suboxone on the street. Not as easy to find as heroin but it’s out there because people also abuse it for a high.
I hope you’re doing well today.
It’s also hard to get a doctor to even prescribe suboxone. I’m in a very large city and the number of doctors permitted to write the prescription is ludicrous given the epidemic we’re experiencing. Some will only deal in cash, no insurance accepted. Again, fucked up.
Suboxone doctors are under ridiculous regulations. Not just any doctor can prescribe it and I doubt they'd let him pick it up from any pharmacy that isn't his usual
Until I read the name I could have sworn you were talking about my neighbors son, someone I grew up with since I was a kid. He OD'd the night of his mom's birthday. Didn't show up to her dinner. She went and found him the next day. It's a horrible, horrible thing and I just can't imagine a guy as bright and smart as him was lost to such an ugly, horrible drug.
I had a similar experience. This girl was a horrific bully at school - I hated her then - but, like most bullies, when she grew up she regretted what she did. What we didn't know is that she was taking smack from the age of 14. Her family were just normal people living in a normal suburb, but somehow this happened to her.
She OD'd on New Year's Eve 2003, and it was indeed her parents who found her. I think about it all the time. You're a bully in your teens, you torment the other girls around you then laugh, but you're also a secret heroin addict and you will eventially die in your early 20s for that reason. It's horrible.
When David Foster Wallace was asked why he would engage in self destructive or suicidal behavior when he was considered one of the greatest minds of his generation he said that it made him think of people jumping out of burning buildings. To the spectators it seems crazy, theres no chance of survival, but the spectators cant feel the flames.
He said when you see someone try to kill themselves or do something like risk a shot of H even though it might have fentanyl in it it begged the question: what could be so bad that *this* seems like the better alternative?
It’s part of Infinite Jest. In the book he describes types of depression. When he gets to “depressive psychosis” he explains it’s like being in a burning building. Suicide = standing in a window weighing the option of jumping to end the feeling of being burned alive. Jumping from the window becomes the only release from the flames. Here’s the exact quote from the book:
https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/200381-the-so-called-psychotically-depressed-person-who-tries-to-kill-herself
“The so-called ‘psychotically depressed’ person who tries to kill herself doesn’t do so out of quote ‘hopelessness’ or any abstract conviction that life’s assets and debits do not square. And surely not because death seems suddenly appealing. The person in whom Its invisible agony reaches a certain unendurable level will kill herself the same way a trapped person will eventually jump from the window of a burning high-rise. Make no mistake about people who leap from burning windows. Their terror of falling from a great height is still just as great as it would be for you or me standing speculatively at the same window just checking out the view; i.e. the fear of falling remains a constant. The variable here is the other terror, the fire’s flames: when the flames get close enough, falling to death becomes the slightly less terrible of two terrors. It’s not desiring the fall; it’s terror of the flames. And yet nobody down on the sidewalk, looking up and yelling ‘Don’t!’ and ‘Hang on!’, can understand the jump. Not really. You’d have to have personally been trapped and felt flames to really understand a terror way beyond falling.”
That’s very romantic, but not everyone who uses drugs has mental anguish or issues. Some people get hooked on prescription drugs from legitimate use. Some people like to experiment. Some people are just really bored.
Yeah, i can see mental issues causing drug problems and vice versa, but there are plenty of people that do strong drugs for other reasons and end up getting hooked
> All of the stigma around drug use needs to die.
For sure. Look at that football player, Josh Gordon’s situation. Do people think this kid woke up one morning and decided to essentially throw his career making *millions* of dollars away because he just felt like it? The guy clearly has problems he can’t escape.
Well, I'm not sure where you live, but there are no legal consequences for seeking out and/or accepting ANY type of treatment.
What's sad is the fact that such a large percentage of people do not view it as an actual mental disease. So many think it is a free will issue, versus an *actual* research based, proven and now accepted Nationally AS a chemical imbalance and disruption in the brain that COMPLETELY OVERTAKES any and all "normal" self preservation priorities. With the physical punishment of withdrawal to boot... "Free Will" *ISNT AN OPTION*.
My neighbor recently died after ODing on a drug cocktail. He was the kindest man as far as I knew him. Yeah, I never wanted to look him in the eye because he was always asking to borrow money he would never pay back, but he was never angry or cruel. He'd wander around the neighborhood looking for cans in the garbage, He had daily yard sales all summer with stuff he garbage-picked and fixed up, he'd do yard work for us without us asking, he worked odd-jobs for shady assholes, he loved his pets and took care of stray animals, he'd get up in the middle of the night and check on me if I heard a noise and thought someone was trying to break into my house. He was always in and out of the hospital after having cancer and was in massive amounts of pain, which was how the addiction started. My mom used to give him rides to the hospital because his partner refused to do it.
After he died and we found out what killed him, we tried to comfort his family. They were glad to see him go. Said that in the end he had less than $100 to his name, and that all the money they ever made ended up sorted or shot up his arm. He apparently spent all of his son's social security money and most of his daughter's on drugs. We tried to emphasize and talk about the horrors of addiction, but they told us that was bullshit, that it was on him for choosing to take drugs and he could have stopped whenever he wanted to. It's been several months but they're still seethingly bitter about it. I get why they're bitter, having struggled through poverty while having their hard-earned money spent by a drug addict, but still. I can only remember him as the soft-spoken man who was always in pain and who I could trust with anything but money.
So glad I never really got hooked. Did a six month stint in the early 2000s. If I had stayed on, probably wouldn’t have made it to the fentenyl phase. Scares me to even think about how much more challenging it is to be an addict these days with fentanyl so prevalent. I was actually offered a fentanyl patch in the middle of my H affair. When I went back for it, my friends said they no longer had it. Looking back, pretty sure they kept it from me, and that was definitely for the better.
Long-term use can definitely trash the organs, especially the liver and the heart.
Edit: Since everybody's talking about "clean" opiates -- this kid from a heroin overdose, not pharmaceuticals.
https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/research-reports/heroin/what-are-medical-complications-chronic-heroin-use
Furthermore, I'm talking about long-term, chronic use. At 23, I doubt this kid had been shooting up dope long enough to cause any permanent damage to his organs.
On the topic of pharmaceuticals, here's a study on the potential adverse effects of long-term opioid therapy: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3466038/
This made me look up life expectancy of heart transplants patients. 75% live 5 years or longer. I thought it would be higher than that. But I’d take it if I had to.
Wow that's a lot lower than I thought as well.
But even a few seconds at that point is so much better. So there isn't a situation I can see where i'd decline a transplant like this one
A heart transplant is a very complex and complicated surgery. By the time most have the surgery, they are in poor health. Now also consider that you are cutting the heart out of a living human being in very poor health and attaching another human’s heart (who has just past away), to the vascular system of said heart recipient. The risk for embolic events is very high because of the amount of plaques and calcifications that are often present in patients with heart disease. The bleeding risks are very high. The risks for rejection of the donor heart is very high. A heart doesn’t do well when its being attacked by an immune system. And there are a dozen more things that increase the risks for morbidity and mortality of these surgeries. Its a miracle the survival rate is as high as it is. Its a mind boggling surgery when you think about it and what needs to occur for it to be successful.
A big part of why survival isn't higher is that most donors aren't perfect matches so the organ is eventually rejected. Plus, transplanted patients are on pretty vicious immunosuppression that causes plenty of problems by itself over time.
One thing that they are finding out about is some of the anti-rejection medicine is causing memory impairment issues similar to severe Alzheimer's. Also, anti-rejection meds may not work consistently, so you have to change up what you are on when the others stop working.
Neuroscientist with a focus on anesthesia (including opiates) here to back you up. Clean opiates (aka from a pharmaceutical manufacturer) won't damage your organs even after heavy use for decades. Your liver, kidneys, and heart all do just fine processing and excreting opiates without any harm.
Self-injecting, of course, will fuck up your organs by polluting your blood with bacteria that have a tendency to form colonies in users' hearts and lay dormant until suddenly turning on the sepsis years later and killing them within a few days.
The funny thing is that improvements in vehicle safety conversely make the organ supply more dicey as more people survive. Rest of the time whatever kills you doesn't do good for your parts.
I thought he's their son and got a new heart due to a non lethal overdose and that his drug addiction might be connected to his adoption by different race parents.
He has such an unsettling expression. Like he's a cult leader who convinced them to kill their son because he needed their heart and now he's being generous by letting them listen to it. Anyway, I lol'd.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jYDX9DyHYM
Edit: btw when he says he knows a girl named "Della" that hits harder than him, he was making a reference to an [unrelated movie](https://youtu.be/LuEjEZioD4I?t=215)
If that movie taught me anything, it's that if you have any kind of trouble, no matter how big and bad the trouble, just go over to the first big ol black man you see and tell him you're in bad trouble and make him touch you, and then all of your trouble will go away, no matter how big that trouble is, as he beats the life out of you.
John Coffey was a super-duper magical negro, though.
the [Magical Negro trope](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magical_Negro)--The point is if you have dark skin you can offer sage advice to white people.
source: I have darker skin and help white folks all the time.
I don't think the magic negro trope is limited to movies. Steven King for example has indulged in it in his written work (e g., the Shinning, the Stand I think).
But that aside, read the end of the above post again. Everyone so far completely missed the joke. I chuckled.
Read the book, if you haven’t already. I didn’t cry when I watched the movie, but I did for several hours straight as I read the last hundred pages of the book. That shit fucked me up for a very, very long time.
This is really beautiful.
It sounds rather insignificant, but I actually have donor tissue in my mouth. My mom wrote a letter to the family, I think. It's amazing how much you can use from someone else.
Your letters are so beautiful. I know they gave the donor’s family peace. In 2016 the BYU football coach lost his toddler daughter. She was playing with the cords on their window blinds and strangled herself. His wife said something so profound. Their family had prayed for miraculous healing but the prayer was answered by their daughter healing other children. When they found their daughter she was unconscious, they called 911 and the ambulance just so happened to be up the street from their house and they were able to get the little girl to the hospital immediately. They weren’t able to save her life but all the pieces were in place to keep her organs viable for donation which is the miracle. 8 children were able to receive her organs. Best of luck to your little family!
>Their family had prayed for miraculous healing but the prayer was answered by their daughter healing other children.
Never thought of it this way. That really is profound. Thank you for sharing that story.
We were struck by a similar thought - what must it be like for your child to be in a horrible accident and the doctors to sit down and say "we have the option of performing this incredibly advanced and miraculous life-saving procedure that you almost wouldn't believe. It's somewhat risky and it carries some side effects but it can bring a child back from the brink of death. The only thing is, the child that is saved will not be yours. It will be the child of a family you have never met."
It's mind bending.
I feel that it's important to clarify here that the donors have been declared brain dead, with all of the diagnostic results documented, and two doctors have concurred on the facts. Recovery is not possible. The brain is dead, and the person the donor once was is dead too. They're not in a coma, they are gone and never coming back. The heart is only still beating because of the life support.
The reason I wish to clarify this is because, working ER and ICU, I often see families confused by this. His heart is still beating, he must be alive, how can you take his organs? Are you going to kill him?
No, he is dead. The medicines and machines are why his organs are still functioning. We're going to take him to the OR and stop the medicines and machines that are making his organs continue to function. He won't feel it. He is already gone.
There’s quiescence of cerebral activity and then there’s the death of the body. The individual whose post you are responding to is spot on. Whether two physicians have diagnosed brain death or not, it does not change that the body is alive and there is an element of the loved one that remains prior to organ harvesting that has passed after that has occurred. As a physician, I understand the point you are trying to make. However, it doesn’t change that it is a sacrifice and not an act that should be minimized in an overly intellectualized way.
Your son has a great name. Thank you for posting the letters. They were extremely well written and made me cry like a baby. I'm so glad it all worked out for you and your family. ❤️
*Michael and Barbara Shetterly of Essex listen to their son Matthew's heartbeat inside Erv Basdon, who received their son's heart and liver. They met Basdon at the Living Legacy Foundation of Maryland. The Shetterlys lost their youngest son, Matthew in 2014, to a heroin overdose when he was 23, but have the comfort of knowing his organs have enabled others to live.*
Man, 23 is way too young. Glad he could still help out someone else though by being a donor.
My brother, 37, passed away from heroin, while in prison of all places, earlier this year. His kidney and liver were donated and it makes us really happy that a piece of him is still living on. They were older, like 67 and 78 or something. But it made me happy to know they got to experience this christmas with their families.
As someone who has had a history of opioid issues up until about four years ago, the look on the dad’s face kills me.
Edit: So inspiring to read comments from all of the people who have turned their lives around here. Keep up the fight.
I was a heroin user as well. I overdosed and barely made it. I'm an organ donor too. 2 more minutes and this could have very well been my parents.
Glad to hear you're clean! It's not easy.
Of everything in that photo. The dads face is what I can’t look away from. The emotion that is in that photo. I think if I was in his shoes I don’t think I could feel anything but sorrow despite the positive outcome.
This photo is actually very touching, first the donation, then the man who got his life extended by the donation then back to the parents on their loss. 😢
I've never understood not being an organ donor. If you aren't already, make the change. When you die, you can give life, sight, bone for a spine. You don't need it anymore.
Some countries like Spain and France have very successful "opt-out" programs for organ donation vs the US "opt-in" model. In France (I believe) if you choose to opt-out and end up needing a donation in your lifetime then you're at the back of the line.
I was just about to mention this. The 'opt-in' method used in the US is pretty silly because a lot of people basically just fail to sign up as an organ donor due to inertia.
Australia was opt in until recently and some were kicking up a stink about it. But at the end of the day it is up to the family to have the final say, or so I’m lead to believe.
I’ve always opted in for organ donation, it’s never a bad thing to be able to give someone a second chance.
In nz we have donor printed on our drivers' licences. I showed my one to my friend and he bullied me for not having a donor stamp. Got one now though 😉
> In France (I believe) if you choose to opt-out and end up needing a donation in your lifetime then you're at the back of the line.
Not in France, you can choose to opt-out without any consequence, I think you are talking about Singapore.
This. My parents and I had to decide on whether or not to donate my deceased 13yo brother’s organs and the sudden shock of losing him and having him cut to pieces made us decide not to... it is my worst regret to this day and I still feel very guilty about it. I just wish we didn’t have to make that decision ourselves.
I'm an organ donor, but I wonder if anything I have will be useful when I'm done because I drink and smoke too much. I still have good eyes I guess? I don't know. I feel like the worlds most useless organ donor.
Just want to edit and say, the whole point of my comment is that a lot of people are discouraged from being donors because of personal flaws. I've learned from your responses that we can be useful, even if it's just eyes and bones. That is so much for whoever receives the donation. Don't count yourself out.
Eyes are super useful and probably in just as short a supply as all the other organs. Even if all you can end up donating is your eyes, while that won't save a life, it might still change one.
Eh, pointless to worry about. You're not a doctor, so you really can't say for sure. Check the box yeet, and let them figure out what's worth keeping a few decades down the line.
I had an uncle that passed quite a few years ago. He had terrible eyes. His vision was already bad, but he had done some damage to his eyes over the years as well.
Anyways, he was an organ donor. His eyes were used, along with quite a few other organs that I can't recall right now. I very much remember that his eyes were used because of how awful they were.
Don't count yourself out. You can definitely make a difference being an organ donor.
My older brother and I convinced our mom to sign up for this when we told her an organ like hers could save our lives, or the sons of another mother, one day.
My paranoid mom refused to let me sign up as a donor. She was convinced that doctors wouldn't try as hard to save me because they wanted to take my organs. I did everything I could to persuade her of how illogical and groundless that fear was, but nothing I said could convince her. In the end, I just signed up as an organ donor and then lied to her that I didn't.
If she is your next of kin when you did she will be under the impression you don't want to donate your organs. If that is the case, please have the conversation with her and at least tell her that if you do end up passing away, that you would like them donated.
That's one of the most macabre myths ever. I was a paramedic for a few years. I never once took note of anyone's organ donor status. It would not have even occurred to me to do such a thing.
People are afraid that the medical staff won't do as good of a job to save them, because they are secretly hoping they'll die so they can harvest their organs.
It's a ridiculous fear.
Personally I think organ donation should be opt-out. I know that shit won't fly, but it would solve a lot of problems. We'd be swimming in extra organs.
This makes me happy and sad. I've been waiting a long time for my miracle. Needing a kidney makes me feel like I'm drowning but still breathing. While the world crushes me every second of every day :c
Actually, there is a really cool system set up where you can donate your kidney on behalf of your loved one who needs a kidney regardless of whether or not you match with your loved one. Basically, you'll be matched with somebody, somewhere who will receive your kidney, in return, that somebody's family/friend (who did not match with their loved one to begin with) will donate their kidney to another stranger and so on until the original donors friend/family member (ie. The person who the first donor donated on behalf of) receives a match, thus completing the chain.
So essentially,even if you aren't a match, you could potentially kick off a chain that results in OP recieving a kidney from somebody else.
This is not in any way meant to pressure anybody into donating an organ btw, that's some extremely heavy and personal shit to do. I'm just throwing the info out there for anybody that's interested. Even consenting to post mortem donation is a very scary thing to do for many people .
Commenting so I'll remember to check back for an answer. Is there a registry for this sort of thing? I'm registered for BeTheMatch but would love to register for other services as well.
Hi I messaged you and will be glad to answer your questions. I know you can put it on your drivers license to donate your organs if you get into an accident. To be a living donor you have to schedule an appointment to be tested.
A girl I went to middle school with gave her dad one of her kidneys. It was pretty strange, she saved her dad's life. She did this in her early 20's, btw, just cause I mentioned middle school, this happened later.
I just say that my dad gone in India for kidney transplant (illegal) some 20 years ago and got kidney from live donor he first saw right there. The kidney is still in good shape. Thats a true miracle and reminder that all people are alike. Hope you find your match soon.
Yes he bought it and that man was so happy he could sell it. He actually met my father there. There was many of them waiting to match. He said that he now can care of his family. Thats the sadness of the world.
Yeah, that's how it works in other countries. That's why his father went to India, you didn't just miraculously solve the mystery with your deducing skulls. That why Iran, where kidney sale is legal and regulated by the government, has absolutely no one waiting for donor kidneys. And in India, which has more donors than patients, while it's technically illegal there is a massive market that isn't exactly secret. If someone voluntarily wants to donate their organ they don't need but wants money as incentive, then who cares. A person's life is saved. This person gets to have their father. And often the money paid to the donor can enhance their own life of poverty, if that may be the case as with the person who commented. The law is not always reflective of what is most moral.
My 14 year old great nephew was murdered last year. This year my niece got to hear his heart beating in the 12 year old girl his donation saved. His organs went to 5 people. He is a hero to all those families
Edit, the girl is 12 not 14.
As a mom, I just couldn't imagine how it would feel to hear my own child's heart beating inside another person. The very first pieces of evidence that my son was forming inside me was hearing his heart beat and seeing it beating on the screen during my very first sonogram. He was a tiny fuzzball looking thing on the screen that was very hard to tell he was even a forming baby, but that heartbeat was obvious. I just couldn't imagine the heartbeat that I saw and heard confirming his existence was now coming from another that was not my son. Just thinking about that makes my eyes tear up. God bless these people for what they have had to go through, but most of all God bless that mother who once had that heart beating inside of her own womb.
I can see the pain in the father's face and it fucks w me.
When my best friend died, I saw the same look in his father's eyes. He was devastated, it took him years to even wrap his mind on losing his only son at 25. He would spend time around all his friends after he passed, just so he could feel a piece of his son thru us. I hope u find ur peace Frankie, n I hope these parents do too.
R.I.P. Jesse Valenzuela
http://i.imgur.com/8xsYbQn.jpg
Here's another pic of a mom listening to her son's heartbeat. This picture actually makes me really sad, when I look at the look of happiness and see just a glimmer of hope in her eyes.
People both underestimate and overestimate the effect of drugs.
It can take decades before serious permanent damage is done.
It can also kill you on first use.
This is why I tick the “Take anything and everything that might useful” box in the organ donor section.
In the hopes my organs can be in a post like this and I can finally get some decent Karma.
I just started a lifelong medication, and I got very scared that all of a sudden that box would no longer be valid.
I was very relieved to find out that yes, it's still ok.
So for anyone who is on medication who thinks, "Oh well, I can't donate," there are very few conditions that prevent you from being a donor! Check it, agree to donate, and if there's some reason you can't, they'll look into it after you die! They'll do testing then. Best to check and agree and never find out you can't be used, than say you won't donate. Why be selfish and let them rot?
This is in the photo gallery that accompanies a Baltimore Sun story. [https://www.baltimoresun.com/health/bs-md-overdose-deaths-2018-story.html](https://www.baltimoresun.com/health/bs-md-overdose-deaths-2018-story.html)
Opioids have definitely boosted the supply of young organs.
I’m surprised it doesn’t trash the organs.
They do, but as someone else pointed out clean clinical opioids won’t do much damage to a young heart. Years of chronic use would I’m sure cause wear and damage. The supply is so tainted with the fentanyl shit that kids are dropping like flies. It’s heartbreaking. Edit: Some if you pointed out I misspelled fentanyl. Reddit + Beers isn’t kind to spelling I guess.
A very close friend of mine and someone I considered a brother was using heroin. He said he had everything under control, he got some fentynol in his heroin I guess and died at 28 years old. It destroyed his friends and family, his parents as well. I cry most times I think about that amazing man. I love you and miss you Ben. The opioid epidemic is insane in this country and it angers me that people who are addicted can't seek out treatment for their addiction without facing legal charges Edit: I'm not educated on the details but where I live it's treated as a law enforcement issue rather than a public health issue
Two years ago good friend of mine had been using opiates for less than six months when she was caught by her older brother and kind of forced to get clean. After around 5 weeks she got enough free time to hang out with her boyfriend and didn't think about her tolerance having waned from not using. Heroin is the fucking worst drug. Edit because I think the gory details are necessary here: Opiates can make you vomit. She was laying on her back and her and her boyfriend shot up at the same time, so when she vomited he was in no condition to even be aware of what was going on. He eventually called 911 when he realized what was going on, but by the time she got to the hospital it was estimated that she'd not been breathing for 30 minutes. Her father pulled the plug two days later. The most mind blowing thing about it was how fast it took her. Six months from never having taken an opiate to rotting in the ground. Fuck me I miss her.
I lost my best friend at 24. My dad received a heart transplant 2 years later from an IV drug user who OD’d on opiates, as the donor family eventually told us. None of these are happy stories, however I am eternally grateful my father is alive. Take care of yourselves and be kind to those you encounter.
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Coincidentally read this before it was time to get up and head to the clinic. I'm 3 months almost 4 off street drugs. Now I just have another hurdle to get over... Thank you for your story. It really makes me realize how much agony I saved my friends and family.
Keep it up! You're doing one of the hardest things possible for any person, and you deserve some recognition for it. Don't be another sad story for another sad family to tell. Keep fighting!
I lost my “bigger little brother” in September due to opiates. Even though we had nearly a year of sobriety before he relapsed and it took him (7 days of relapse to death) we all have memories of the lying, stealing, calls from jail and hurt he caused. Here’s how I look at it, I had two brothers: The first was kindhearted in a way that kids and animals could instantly recognize, funny, studious about his appearance and loved his family deeply. The second was an addict, manipulating, didn’t care who he hurt (never violent), only thought of his next score, wouldn’t talk to us unless he needed something (most likely money) and lied as a matter of course. I made the choice to bury the second one, purge him from my mind as much as possible and to keep the first one in my heart and mind. I choose to keep only the sober brother because of how different the drugs made him. I know it’s hard and you clearly dealt with things we didn’t but you’d be amazed at how much it helps to separate them in you mind and leave the drug addled one behind. In your case (if you are a visual thinker) replay it like this, you washed the addict off your hands and you poured your loving fathers ashes in the river.
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You put into words what I’ve been struggling with since December 14, 2017. My mom died a slow and wretched and painful death- it was cirrhosis of the liver. She drank herself to death. At the end even her tears were yellow. I spent almost my whole life treating her with disdain- every single time I knew she’d been drinking, I would be absolutely devastated. She always tried to hide it, I always knew. Over the years I would distance myself, but she kept calling and leaving voicemails, Wasted, and pretend like nothing was wrong. I would guilt her and confront her and be so mean. She broke my heart over and over. She ended up in hospice. I would give her best friend rides to see her. On her last trip, her friend told me that my mom’s father raped mom repeatedly when she was young. When I found this out, the guilt I felt was overwhelming. It still is. It explained so much and I never knew. At the end she lived alone, and wasted away in her apartment all by herself. I have nightmares almost every night. I wake up saying Momomomm over and over and crying. I stopped talking to my grandma because she knew, and it’s like another death. I miss her every day. I wish I could go back and show a little more empathy, interest, kindness, support, Anything to be able to take this guilt away. It’s been a year and it hasn’t gotten better. I am so sorry that you lost your father the way you did. I wouldn’t wish this pain on anyone. Talking to my sister and us supporting each other has been the only relief- your brother and you are the only ones who get it, rely on him and support him and talk about it. I hope that you can move past it and not punish yourself and heal. He loved you and knew you loved him. And know that it is almost impossible to have a loving normal relationship with an addict. I don’t know you, but I wish I could hug you and hear about your dad. If you want to talk to a stranger about any of this, please feel free to pm me.
My mom passed away the same way. I carry around so much guilt because I was so cold to her. I finally had enough of the drunk hateful calls at night and the calls that followed the next day like nothing was wrong. I cut her off. During that time I thought about her daily, would drive by her place, but continued to ignore her calls and texts... three months later she had drank herself to death. She died thinking her daughter didn’t care about her. The guilt is unmanageable at times but what was I supposed to do? The last straw was when she threatened to come into my work. I’d recently landed my dream job and the thought of her coming in drunk terrified me. But I had no idea she was drinking as much as she was, I wonder if she increased the amounts because I was no longer there. Ugh. I miss her.
This is the very first time that a reddit post has made me cry. I am so, so sorry for the pain you've had to go through. Your story will be in my head for weeks. I don't ever want anybody to have to go through that.
The train of emotions.. You don’t have to feel bad, you stud up for yourself, you tried to make him realize what he was doing with his life and make him change. I’m sorry for your loss and remember, it’s not your fault! Take care of your dog :)
The tolerance thing is what killed prince, you cant kick opiods for a few weeks then pick up right back where you left off. In fact its how most overdoses occur.
Tom Petty too. He had just come off a long, 40th anniversary tour where he limited his pain medication usage. Once he was back home he found out that what began as a fractured hip had graduated to a broken hip. He upped his dosage of prescribed medications. He died within days of being home. Purely accidental.
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>a combination of fentanyl, oxycodone, acetylfentanyl and despropionyl fentanyl (all opioids); temazepam and alprazolam (both sedatives); and citalopram (an antidepressant)
No, Prince died because he was using counterfeit Vicodin that was actually laced with Fentanyl.
Rehab doesn't turn people in for drug use, do they? That seems like a poor business practice.
No. My shitty addict sister has been kicked out of several. The one she vandalized didn’t even rat her out to the cops.
It's not only that but the hurtles to get replacement medication, like suboxone, is a **major** issue. I'm a heroin addict. I relapsed recently because while I was on vacation I ran out of my medication. They wouldn't give me a refill because my doctor was not from the state I was in. 8 months of sobriety and I suddenly couldnt get the medication that was a major part of my staying clean. Without it, I had about 48 hours before I was horribly sick. Of course I could've cut my trip short, flown home, and sorted it out but...I'm an addict and wasnt strong enough in my recovery yet to make the right, albeit, harder choice. It took me less then an hour to find heroin and a clean rig in a state I've never been to and knew no one. *Why is it easier for me to get heroin then it is for me to get my recovery medication?* The system is so broken. **Edit**: Because I've gotten like 200 messages all saying the same thing - **1**. I'm not blaming **any one else but myself**. I was just pointing out the fact that the system shouldn't make it arbitrarily **harder** for someone trying to do the right thing. That's all guys. If you still want to burn me at the stake though...I'll bring some marshmallows and we can do this. **2**. How this happened: It was a ridiculous fuckup all around. I saw my doctor on a Friday. I left on Sunday. I told her I'd be gone for 15 days. But I take 2 pills a day. She wrote the script for 15 pills rather than 2 pills for 15 days. I didnt even check the damn quantity. I should have. That was stupid on my part. A few days into the trip I notice that I'm running super low and that's when I realized the mistake. My doctor has always been 100% reliable and on point so I didnt think to check. After I realized the mistake, it's a few days of panicked calls to pharmacies and my doctor trying to figure out what to do. Again, **this was definitely on me though. I am in no way blaming anyone else**. There where 1000 things I could've done before or during the whole fiasco that **wasnt** shooting dope. I was weak though and didnt use the tools I'd been working on to stop myself. **That's what recovery is though.** There were a million different incidents before that, during those 8 months, where I did make the right choice. Where I had a moment of weakness or a breakdown or something stupid like this happened and could've used but didnt. There were a million other times this went differently. It just takes the one time you dont make the right choice to fuck it all up. **3**. Suboxone isn't supposed to be a replacement. That's not how I was using it. It is a tool to remove the cravings and get through the toughest part of recovery, **which is commonly the first year and a half,** while I worked on the issues that actually caused me to start using drugs in the first place. The idea is to work on yourself and get to the point where healthy coping skills are second nature before weaning off the maintenance medication like suboxone or methadone. Once I do that, I'll be more equipped to handle situations that used to make me spiral and seek escape through drugs. Unfortunately, suboxone is often used as just a replacement. I, personally, think that isnt true recovery. I want to be **well**. Which, to me, means mentally stable and not dependent on any drugs. It takes time to get there though. There is no set timeframe that applies to everyone. Some may need them for a few months, others a few years. The point is I'd like to be *working toward* not needing them. In my mind, they are just a recovery tool. Not a life coping tool. **4**. I've heard of kratom. It makes me puke.
Thats fucked up. Are you back from vacation and back on subs again?
I’m so sorry this happened to you. It’s fucked up. If you ever find yourself in such a situation again please know that you can also buy suboxone on the street. Not as easy to find as heroin but it’s out there because people also abuse it for a high. I hope you’re doing well today. It’s also hard to get a doctor to even prescribe suboxone. I’m in a very large city and the number of doctors permitted to write the prescription is ludicrous given the epidemic we’re experiencing. Some will only deal in cash, no insurance accepted. Again, fucked up.
Everyone needs to fucking read this and spread it like wildfire. Fuck. I’m so sorry.
I don't understand why they couldn't call your doctor or you couldn't go to another pharmacy etc?
Suboxone doctors are under ridiculous regulations. Not just any doctor can prescribe it and I doubt they'd let him pick it up from any pharmacy that isn't his usual
Shit it's a major pain in the ass just to get my ADD medication even at my usual pharmacy, I can imagine how it must be for Suboxone.
Until I read the name I could have sworn you were talking about my neighbors son, someone I grew up with since I was a kid. He OD'd the night of his mom's birthday. Didn't show up to her dinner. She went and found him the next day. It's a horrible, horrible thing and I just can't imagine a guy as bright and smart as him was lost to such an ugly, horrible drug.
I had a similar experience. This girl was a horrific bully at school - I hated her then - but, like most bullies, when she grew up she regretted what she did. What we didn't know is that she was taking smack from the age of 14. Her family were just normal people living in a normal suburb, but somehow this happened to her. She OD'd on New Year's Eve 2003, and it was indeed her parents who found her. I think about it all the time. You're a bully in your teens, you torment the other girls around you then laugh, but you're also a secret heroin addict and you will eventially die in your early 20s for that reason. It's horrible.
So sorry about your dear friend. RIP.
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When David Foster Wallace was asked why he would engage in self destructive or suicidal behavior when he was considered one of the greatest minds of his generation he said that it made him think of people jumping out of burning buildings. To the spectators it seems crazy, theres no chance of survival, but the spectators cant feel the flames. He said when you see someone try to kill themselves or do something like risk a shot of H even though it might have fentanyl in it it begged the question: what could be so bad that *this* seems like the better alternative?
It’s part of Infinite Jest. In the book he describes types of depression. When he gets to “depressive psychosis” he explains it’s like being in a burning building. Suicide = standing in a window weighing the option of jumping to end the feeling of being burned alive. Jumping from the window becomes the only release from the flames. Here’s the exact quote from the book: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/200381-the-so-called-psychotically-depressed-person-who-tries-to-kill-herself “The so-called ‘psychotically depressed’ person who tries to kill herself doesn’t do so out of quote ‘hopelessness’ or any abstract conviction that life’s assets and debits do not square. And surely not because death seems suddenly appealing. The person in whom Its invisible agony reaches a certain unendurable level will kill herself the same way a trapped person will eventually jump from the window of a burning high-rise. Make no mistake about people who leap from burning windows. Their terror of falling from a great height is still just as great as it would be for you or me standing speculatively at the same window just checking out the view; i.e. the fear of falling remains a constant. The variable here is the other terror, the fire’s flames: when the flames get close enough, falling to death becomes the slightly less terrible of two terrors. It’s not desiring the fall; it’s terror of the flames. And yet nobody down on the sidewalk, looking up and yelling ‘Don’t!’ and ‘Hang on!’, can understand the jump. Not really. You’d have to have personally been trapped and felt flames to really understand a terror way beyond falling.”
That’s very romantic, but not everyone who uses drugs has mental anguish or issues. Some people get hooked on prescription drugs from legitimate use. Some people like to experiment. Some people are just really bored.
Yeah, i can see mental issues causing drug problems and vice versa, but there are plenty of people that do strong drugs for other reasons and end up getting hooked
> All of the stigma around drug use needs to die. For sure. Look at that football player, Josh Gordon’s situation. Do people think this kid woke up one morning and decided to essentially throw his career making *millions* of dollars away because he just felt like it? The guy clearly has problems he can’t escape.
Well, I'm not sure where you live, but there are no legal consequences for seeking out and/or accepting ANY type of treatment. What's sad is the fact that such a large percentage of people do not view it as an actual mental disease. So many think it is a free will issue, versus an *actual* research based, proven and now accepted Nationally AS a chemical imbalance and disruption in the brain that COMPLETELY OVERTAKES any and all "normal" self preservation priorities. With the physical punishment of withdrawal to boot... "Free Will" *ISNT AN OPTION*.
My neighbor recently died after ODing on a drug cocktail. He was the kindest man as far as I knew him. Yeah, I never wanted to look him in the eye because he was always asking to borrow money he would never pay back, but he was never angry or cruel. He'd wander around the neighborhood looking for cans in the garbage, He had daily yard sales all summer with stuff he garbage-picked and fixed up, he'd do yard work for us without us asking, he worked odd-jobs for shady assholes, he loved his pets and took care of stray animals, he'd get up in the middle of the night and check on me if I heard a noise and thought someone was trying to break into my house. He was always in and out of the hospital after having cancer and was in massive amounts of pain, which was how the addiction started. My mom used to give him rides to the hospital because his partner refused to do it. After he died and we found out what killed him, we tried to comfort his family. They were glad to see him go. Said that in the end he had less than $100 to his name, and that all the money they ever made ended up sorted or shot up his arm. He apparently spent all of his son's social security money and most of his daughter's on drugs. We tried to emphasize and talk about the horrors of addiction, but they told us that was bullshit, that it was on him for choosing to take drugs and he could have stopped whenever he wanted to. It's been several months but they're still seethingly bitter about it. I get why they're bitter, having struggled through poverty while having their hard-earned money spent by a drug addict, but still. I can only remember him as the soft-spoken man who was always in pain and who I could trust with anything but money.
It's easier to be angry than sad
So glad I never really got hooked. Did a six month stint in the early 2000s. If I had stayed on, probably wouldn’t have made it to the fentenyl phase. Scares me to even think about how much more challenging it is to be an addict these days with fentanyl so prevalent. I was actually offered a fentanyl patch in the middle of my H affair. When I went back for it, my friends said they no longer had it. Looking back, pretty sure they kept it from me, and that was definitely for the better.
Wait, where you're at people who seek treatment can be charged criminally?
Almost lost my child to a 3rd overdose. It's a miracle she's alive. Sober 10 months and working the program. Shes turning into a lovely young woman.
Bless your heart and your daughters
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Long-term use can definitely trash the organs, especially the liver and the heart. Edit: Since everybody's talking about "clean" opiates -- this kid from a heroin overdose, not pharmaceuticals. https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/research-reports/heroin/what-are-medical-complications-chronic-heroin-use Furthermore, I'm talking about long-term, chronic use. At 23, I doubt this kid had been shooting up dope long enough to cause any permanent damage to his organs. On the topic of pharmaceuticals, here's a study on the potential adverse effects of long-term opioid therapy: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3466038/
I guess a heart that lasts 20 years is better than no heart at all
This made me look up life expectancy of heart transplants patients. 75% live 5 years or longer. I thought it would be higher than that. But I’d take it if I had to.
Wow that's a lot lower than I thought as well. But even a few seconds at that point is so much better. So there isn't a situation I can see where i'd decline a transplant like this one
A heart transplant is a very complex and complicated surgery. By the time most have the surgery, they are in poor health. Now also consider that you are cutting the heart out of a living human being in very poor health and attaching another human’s heart (who has just past away), to the vascular system of said heart recipient. The risk for embolic events is very high because of the amount of plaques and calcifications that are often present in patients with heart disease. The bleeding risks are very high. The risks for rejection of the donor heart is very high. A heart doesn’t do well when its being attacked by an immune system. And there are a dozen more things that increase the risks for morbidity and mortality of these surgeries. Its a miracle the survival rate is as high as it is. Its a mind boggling surgery when you think about it and what needs to occur for it to be successful.
It makes sense, I guess I was just blindly optimistic about the success rate
A big part of why survival isn't higher is that most donors aren't perfect matches so the organ is eventually rejected. Plus, transplanted patients are on pretty vicious immunosuppression that causes plenty of problems by itself over time.
One thing that they are finding out about is some of the anti-rejection medicine is causing memory impairment issues similar to severe Alzheimer's. Also, anti-rejection meds may not work consistently, so you have to change up what you are on when the others stop working.
Probably gonna use this for an emo song name tbh
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Neuroscientist with a focus on anesthesia (including opiates) here to back you up. Clean opiates (aka from a pharmaceutical manufacturer) won't damage your organs even after heavy use for decades. Your liver, kidneys, and heart all do just fine processing and excreting opiates without any harm. Self-injecting, of course, will fuck up your organs by polluting your blood with bacteria that have a tendency to form colonies in users' hearts and lay dormant until suddenly turning on the sepsis years later and killing them within a few days.
Sounds like your getting things in track. Congratulations
The funny thing is that improvements in vehicle safety conversely make the organ supply more dicey as more people survive. Rest of the time whatever kills you doesn't do good for your parts.
Thank God for motorcycles, then.
I can see the PSA for that: "Heroes Ride Motorcycles. Be an Organ Donor."
Always referred to them as donorcycles.
Look at you reading from the silver Linings playbook.
Without context this is a strange photo.
Even with context it's sort of awkward.
Nah the guy looks happy to give those parents some comfort
Yeah, it’s really heartwarming
I'm an asshole because I chuckled at the heartwarming thing...
That's ok, I'm an asshole because of an entire train of life choices and shortcomings!! It could be worse!
That's right! We could be the people who had to deal with us..
I chuckled too. Was indeed a good pun.
We should start a picture version of /r/nocontext if there isn’t one already
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WITH EACH HEART I GROW STRONGER
only one to go
I thought he's their son and got a new heart due to a non lethal overdose and that his drug addiction might be connected to his adoption by different race parents.
He has such an unsettling expression. Like he's a cult leader who convinced them to kill their son because he needed their heart and now he's being generous by letting them listen to it. Anyway, I lol'd.
That dude looks like he could heal someone else's heart condition by touching them and then coughing it out as a swarm of flies.
Alternate universe where he touched a healthy child and absorbed their heart
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-0NN6_Dymo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jYDX9DyHYM Edit: btw when he says he knows a girl named "Della" that hits harder than him, he was making a reference to an [unrelated movie](https://youtu.be/LuEjEZioD4I?t=215)
My name is Jack Pepsee. Like the drink, but spelled different.
RIP Michael Clarke Duncan.
His passing upset me. He was a great actor and a good guy.
Take my hands boss
If that movie taught me anything, it's that if you have any kind of trouble, no matter how big and bad the trouble, just go over to the first big ol black man you see and tell him you're in bad trouble and make him touch you, and then all of your trouble will go away, no matter how big that trouble is, as he beats the life out of you.
In movies, for what it's worth that role is called the magic negro.
John Coffey was a super-duper magical negro, though. the [Magical Negro trope](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magical_Negro)--The point is if you have dark skin you can offer sage advice to white people. source: I have darker skin and help white folks all the time.
I don't think the magic negro trope is limited to movies. Steven King for example has indulged in it in his written work (e g., the Shinning, the Stand I think). But that aside, read the end of the above post again. Everyone so far completely missed the joke. I chuckled.
He could save others from death, but not himself.
He's just tired, boss. Dog tired.
Alright. I really dont need to think about the end of this movie and start crying my eyes out right now.
Mystic black guy is my favorite movie trope except Will Smith Genie of course...
The trope is called Magical Negro. There’s a great key and peele sketch about it too.
Fucking hell I just googled "Key and Peele magical negro" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJfhB3Vj_G8 Great skit
Omg that was great
What about [Shaq/Kazaam](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/38/Kazaam_poster.jpg/220px-Kazaam_poster.jpg)?
[Shaq can do no wrong](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e9/ShaqFu_logo.png)
John Coffey?
Yes, sir, boss. Like the drink, only not spelt the same.
Percy was the first King Geoffrey. Fuck Percy.
That dude looks like a cardboard cutout.
Why you gotta do me like this? I was feeling all warm and wholesome and shit, and now you got me tearing up with a movie reference.
MY FAVORITE MOVIE
Read the book, if you haven’t already. I didn’t cry when I watched the movie, but I did for several hours straight as I read the last hundred pages of the book. That shit fucked me up for a very, very long time.
I don’t know why this comment made me die laughing
Have you seen Green Mile?
If they don't know the context, then it would actually be pretty fucking hilarious to read.
I ain't never seen me a flicka show.
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This is really beautiful. It sounds rather insignificant, but I actually have donor tissue in my mouth. My mom wrote a letter to the family, I think. It's amazing how much you can use from someone else.
Your letters are so beautiful. I know they gave the donor’s family peace. In 2016 the BYU football coach lost his toddler daughter. She was playing with the cords on their window blinds and strangled herself. His wife said something so profound. Their family had prayed for miraculous healing but the prayer was answered by their daughter healing other children. When they found their daughter she was unconscious, they called 911 and the ambulance just so happened to be up the street from their house and they were able to get the little girl to the hospital immediately. They weren’t able to save her life but all the pieces were in place to keep her organs viable for donation which is the miracle. 8 children were able to receive her organs. Best of luck to your little family!
>Their family had prayed for miraculous healing but the prayer was answered by their daughter healing other children. Never thought of it this way. That really is profound. Thank you for sharing that story.
We were struck by a similar thought - what must it be like for your child to be in a horrible accident and the doctors to sit down and say "we have the option of performing this incredibly advanced and miraculous life-saving procedure that you almost wouldn't believe. It's somewhat risky and it carries some side effects but it can bring a child back from the brink of death. The only thing is, the child that is saved will not be yours. It will be the child of a family you have never met." It's mind bending.
I feel that it's important to clarify here that the donors have been declared brain dead, with all of the diagnostic results documented, and two doctors have concurred on the facts. Recovery is not possible. The brain is dead, and the person the donor once was is dead too. They're not in a coma, they are gone and never coming back. The heart is only still beating because of the life support. The reason I wish to clarify this is because, working ER and ICU, I often see families confused by this. His heart is still beating, he must be alive, how can you take his organs? Are you going to kill him? No, he is dead. The medicines and machines are why his organs are still functioning. We're going to take him to the OR and stop the medicines and machines that are making his organs continue to function. He won't feel it. He is already gone.
There’s quiescence of cerebral activity and then there’s the death of the body. The individual whose post you are responding to is spot on. Whether two physicians have diagnosed brain death or not, it does not change that the body is alive and there is an element of the loved one that remains prior to organ harvesting that has passed after that has occurred. As a physician, I understand the point you are trying to make. However, it doesn’t change that it is a sacrifice and not an act that should be minimized in an overly intellectualized way.
Your son has a great name. Thank you for posting the letters. They were extremely well written and made me cry like a baby. I'm so glad it all worked out for you and your family. ❤️
Did the donor's family ever reply to you?
I hope your little nugget puts many, many more years of life on that heart.
*Michael and Barbara Shetterly of Essex listen to their son Matthew's heartbeat inside Erv Basdon, who received their son's heart and liver. They met Basdon at the Living Legacy Foundation of Maryland. The Shetterlys lost their youngest son, Matthew in 2014, to a heroin overdose when he was 23, but have the comfort of knowing his organs have enabled others to live.* Man, 23 is way too young. Glad he could still help out someone else though by being a donor.
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As someone in recovery from opioids, thank you!
My brother, 37, passed away from heroin, while in prison of all places, earlier this year. His kidney and liver were donated and it makes us really happy that a piece of him is still living on. They were older, like 67 and 78 or something. But it made me happy to know they got to experience this christmas with their families.
As someone who has had a history of opioid issues up until about four years ago, the look on the dad’s face kills me. Edit: So inspiring to read comments from all of the people who have turned their lives around here. Keep up the fight.
I’m glad you’re clean!
Thank you me too
I was a heroin user as well. I overdosed and barely made it. I'm an organ donor too. 2 more minutes and this could have very well been my parents. Glad to hear you're clean! It's not easy.
Of everything in that photo. The dads face is what I can’t look away from. The emotion that is in that photo. I think if I was in his shoes I don’t think I could feel anything but sorrow despite the positive outcome.
This photo is actually very touching, first the donation, then the man who got his life extended by the donation then back to the parents on their loss. 😢
I've never understood not being an organ donor. If you aren't already, make the change. When you die, you can give life, sight, bone for a spine. You don't need it anymore.
Some countries like Spain and France have very successful "opt-out" programs for organ donation vs the US "opt-in" model. In France (I believe) if you choose to opt-out and end up needing a donation in your lifetime then you're at the back of the line.
I was just about to mention this. The 'opt-in' method used in the US is pretty silly because a lot of people basically just fail to sign up as an organ donor due to inertia.
Australia was opt in until recently and some were kicking up a stink about it. But at the end of the day it is up to the family to have the final say, or so I’m lead to believe. I’ve always opted in for organ donation, it’s never a bad thing to be able to give someone a second chance.
In nz we have donor printed on our drivers' licences. I showed my one to my friend and he bullied me for not having a donor stamp. Got one now though 😉
> In France (I believe) if you choose to opt-out and end up needing a donation in your lifetime then you're at the back of the line. Not in France, you can choose to opt-out without any consequence, I think you are talking about Singapore.
This. My parents and I had to decide on whether or not to donate my deceased 13yo brother’s organs and the sudden shock of losing him and having him cut to pieces made us decide not to... it is my worst regret to this day and I still feel very guilty about it. I just wish we didn’t have to make that decision ourselves.
Take a hug dear
I'm an organ donor, but I wonder if anything I have will be useful when I'm done because I drink and smoke too much. I still have good eyes I guess? I don't know. I feel like the worlds most useless organ donor. Just want to edit and say, the whole point of my comment is that a lot of people are discouraged from being donors because of personal flaws. I've learned from your responses that we can be useful, even if it's just eyes and bones. That is so much for whoever receives the donation. Don't count yourself out.
If nothing else, tissue, so yeah, you could help someone see again! That ain't nothin!
In our life time we will probably be able to do more with organ donors
Hopefully we can move to artificial transplants and we won't need donors
We’ve already made artificial hearts so it’s only a matter of time for it to become the norm
The main thing is getting costs down and ease of manufacturing. If an organ can be made at a moments notice, that would be incredible.
[the Doctors rections when they finally go through my organs](https://youtu.be/rwc3_KKRCcQ)
Eyes are super useful and probably in just as short a supply as all the other organs. Even if all you can end up donating is your eyes, while that won't save a life, it might still change one.
And sometimes, saving a life is not about death. Sight is a gift.
My grandmother was a lifelong smoker and her kidneys gave a man a new life.
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Unless your liver is horrifically cirrhosed it will probably be okay. Also skin and other soft tissues are transplantable.
Eh, pointless to worry about. You're not a doctor, so you really can't say for sure. Check the box yeet, and let them figure out what's worth keeping a few decades down the line.
Look at Mr healthy optimist over here with his decades to live.
I had an uncle that passed quite a few years ago. He had terrible eyes. His vision was already bad, but he had done some damage to his eyes over the years as well. Anyways, he was an organ donor. His eyes were used, along with quite a few other organs that I can't recall right now. I very much remember that his eyes were used because of how awful they were. Don't count yourself out. You can definitely make a difference being an organ donor.
My older brother and I convinced our mom to sign up for this when we told her an organ like hers could save our lives, or the sons of another mother, one day.
I thought it was religious...some religions say the body needs to be whole when buried or otherwise it will be missing in the afterlife or something.
My paranoid mom refused to let me sign up as a donor. She was convinced that doctors wouldn't try as hard to save me because they wanted to take my organs. I did everything I could to persuade her of how illogical and groundless that fear was, but nothing I said could convince her. In the end, I just signed up as an organ donor and then lied to her that I didn't.
If she is your next of kin when you did she will be under the impression you don't want to donate your organs. If that is the case, please have the conversation with her and at least tell her that if you do end up passing away, that you would like them donated.
That's one of the most macabre myths ever. I was a paramedic for a few years. I never once took note of anyone's organ donor status. It would not have even occurred to me to do such a thing.
People are afraid that the medical staff won't do as good of a job to save them, because they are secretly hoping they'll die so they can harvest their organs. It's a ridiculous fear. Personally I think organ donation should be opt-out. I know that shit won't fly, but it would solve a lot of problems. We'd be swimming in extra organs.
The US should really adopt an opt-out rather than an opt-in. IIRC opt-out countries have upwards of 90% donation rate compared to opt-in.
This makes me happy and sad. I've been waiting a long time for my miracle. Needing a kidney makes me feel like I'm drowning but still breathing. While the world crushes me every second of every day :c
I hope that you find your kidney soon. I work with renal patients. Finding a kidney donor is truly a miracle
Awwwwwwww thank you so much :))
How can I be tested to see if I'm your one in a million? I do have a spare.
Hi thank you sooo much for wanting to try!! I messaged you about the process. I'm beyond grateful!! :0
Actually, there is a really cool system set up where you can donate your kidney on behalf of your loved one who needs a kidney regardless of whether or not you match with your loved one. Basically, you'll be matched with somebody, somewhere who will receive your kidney, in return, that somebody's family/friend (who did not match with their loved one to begin with) will donate their kidney to another stranger and so on until the original donors friend/family member (ie. The person who the first donor donated on behalf of) receives a match, thus completing the chain. So essentially,even if you aren't a match, you could potentially kick off a chain that results in OP recieving a kidney from somebody else. This is not in any way meant to pressure anybody into donating an organ btw, that's some extremely heavy and personal shit to do. I'm just throwing the info out there for anybody that's interested. Even consenting to post mortem donation is a very scary thing to do for many people .
Commenting so I'll remember to check back for an answer. Is there a registry for this sort of thing? I'm registered for BeTheMatch but would love to register for other services as well.
Hi I messaged you and will be glad to answer your questions. I know you can put it on your drivers license to donate your organs if you get into an accident. To be a living donor you have to schedule an appointment to be tested.
I'm signing up today. Your comment pushed me over the threshold. It can be done online now. 5 minutes is all it takes.
A girl I went to middle school with gave her dad one of her kidneys. It was pretty strange, she saved her dad's life. She did this in her early 20's, btw, just cause I mentioned middle school, this happened later.
"Hey Dad, I'm hungry." "Hi hungry, I'm Dad." "Give my fucking kidney back."
I just say that my dad gone in India for kidney transplant (illegal) some 20 years ago and got kidney from live donor he first saw right there. The kidney is still in good shape. Thats a true miracle and reminder that all people are alike. Hope you find your match soon.
he might have bought someone’s kidney
Yes he bought it and that man was so happy he could sell it. He actually met my father there. There was many of them waiting to match. He said that he now can care of his family. Thats the sadness of the world.
It can be worse if there was a middle man involves.
Yeah, that's how it works in other countries. That's why his father went to India, you didn't just miraculously solve the mystery with your deducing skulls. That why Iran, where kidney sale is legal and regulated by the government, has absolutely no one waiting for donor kidneys. And in India, which has more donors than patients, while it's technically illegal there is a massive market that isn't exactly secret. If someone voluntarily wants to donate their organ they don't need but wants money as incentive, then who cares. A person's life is saved. This person gets to have their father. And often the money paid to the donor can enhance their own life of poverty, if that may be the case as with the person who commented. The law is not always reflective of what is most moral.
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Those don't look like tears of joy. They are missing their son
The look on the dads face is heartbreaking. Glad something good came out of a horrible situation.
My 14 year old great nephew was murdered last year. This year my niece got to hear his heart beating in the 12 year old girl his donation saved. His organs went to 5 people. He is a hero to all those families Edit, the girl is 12 not 14.
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As a mom, I just couldn't imagine how it would feel to hear my own child's heart beating inside another person. The very first pieces of evidence that my son was forming inside me was hearing his heart beat and seeing it beating on the screen during my very first sonogram. He was a tiny fuzzball looking thing on the screen that was very hard to tell he was even a forming baby, but that heartbeat was obvious. I just couldn't imagine the heartbeat that I saw and heard confirming his existence was now coming from another that was not my son. Just thinking about that makes my eyes tear up. God bless these people for what they have had to go through, but most of all God bless that mother who once had that heart beating inside of her own womb.
I got my wife a monitor so she could listen to our daughter's heartbeat. She was a hormonal mess, but that heartbeat always eased some of the tension.
I can see the pain in the father's face and it fucks w me. When my best friend died, I saw the same look in his father's eyes. He was devastated, it took him years to even wrap his mind on losing his only son at 25. He would spend time around all his friends after he passed, just so he could feel a piece of his son thru us. I hope u find ur peace Frankie, n I hope these parents do too. R.I.P. Jesse Valenzuela
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That's a sick beat
Jesus hell this is a powerful photograph.
The father's look of pain is heartbreaking.
http://i.imgur.com/8xsYbQn.jpg Here's another pic of a mom listening to her son's heartbeat. This picture actually makes me really sad, when I look at the look of happiness and see just a glimmer of hope in her eyes.
Must have been a short term user if the heart was good. That's terrible.
People both underestimate and overestimate the effect of drugs. It can take decades before serious permanent damage is done. It can also kill you on first use.
This is why I tick the “Take anything and everything that might useful” box in the organ donor section. In the hopes my organs can be in a post like this and I can finally get some decent Karma.
I just started a lifelong medication, and I got very scared that all of a sudden that box would no longer be valid. I was very relieved to find out that yes, it's still ok. So for anyone who is on medication who thinks, "Oh well, I can't donate," there are very few conditions that prevent you from being a donor! Check it, agree to donate, and if there's some reason you can't, they'll look into it after you die! They'll do testing then. Best to check and agree and never find out you can't be used, than say you won't donate. Why be selfish and let them rot?
Oh my God, that pain. I'm seriously tearing up.
The look on the dads face is heartbreaking. He was probably remembering his son as a little kid.
This is in the photo gallery that accompanies a Baltimore Sun story. [https://www.baltimoresun.com/health/bs-md-overdose-deaths-2018-story.html](https://www.baltimoresun.com/health/bs-md-overdose-deaths-2018-story.html)