This is a persuasive speech I wrote for a class and I thought it was appropriate as I chose the subject because it is meaningful to me- as well as an important issue.
Imagine that you or someone you love has leukemia and is in desperate need of a bone marrow transplant to survive. Would you care if someone signed a donor card?
I know this scenario all too well, my family has a long history of a disease called Polycystic kidney disease. Which after all other treatments the end result is either death or kidney donation. Because it is a family disease outside donors are a necessity.
There are three different types of organ donors: Living Donors, Deceased Donors- give organs and or tissue only. There are also donors- who donate their bodies to science. In this case bodies can be used for forensic study, cell study or a multitude of other medical studies.
According to SCOPA, the South Carolina Organ Procurement Agency, the gap between the # of organ donors and the # of patients on the National waiting list grows larger every year.
In 2003, approximately 6000 patients were removed from the waiting list because they died before organs were available. Every day 70 patients receive transplants, but another 16 patients die and every 12 minutes a new name is added to the recipient list.
According to the New York State Organ Procurement Agency, in 2002 610 families in
New York City alone were approached regarding donation but only 247 families consented.
Did you choose to be an organ donor on you Driver’s License? If yes, have you informed you family of your wishes?
Most people who have decided to donate, do not have their wishes carried out, because they failed to share their wishes with there loved ones.
We all would give so readily the gifts of time, blood and money- but we hesitate or deny the gift of life.
Organs that can be donated include: heart, lungs, kidneys, pancreas, liver and intestines. Additionally, tissue can also be donated such as: corneas, skin, bone marrow, heart valves and connective tissue. Organs are matched by blood/ tissue type, organ size, medical urgency and waiting time or geography.
One donor can save up to 8 lives.
I realize that this is not a subject most people want to think about. No one wants to think of the time when they or someone they love is faced with the end of life. Because of this many people tend to question issues regarding donation.
All of my sources stated the same facts regarding donation, in an attempt to debunk myths about the process. I would like to share some of these myths and facts with you.
Myth- my religion does not condone organ donation
Fact- all organized religions approve of donation, and consider it a divine gift.
Myth- the rich and famous will get organs before others who may be in greater need
Fact- Under the National Organ Transplant Act organs can not be sold, and transplantation is decided by basis of need and the methodical matching process I mentioned earlier
Myth- will donation disfigure my body?
Fact- donation is done during a surgical procedure, and doctor’s take great care to preserve the body- to allow for open casket funerals.
Myth- how much will it cost my family or me if I donate?
Fact- there is no cost to the donor, donor’s family or estate, all expenses are covered by the recipient.
Organ donation is a selfless act that could save many lives. Wouldn’t you like to know that a simple and true gift of yourself will allow others to survive and go on to live full and healthy, happy lives.
I would like to share with you, a poem written by Robert N. Test, who upon his death was a donor who saved many lives.
The day will come when my body will lie upon a white sheet neatly tucked under four corners of a mattress located in a hospital busily occupied with the living and the dying. At a certain moment a doctor will determine that my brain has ceased to function and that, for all intents and purposes, my life has ended. When that happens, do not attempt to instill artificial life into my body by the use of a machine. And don’t call this my deathbed. Let it be called the bed of life, and let my body be taken from it to help others lead fuller lives.
Give my sight to the man who has never seen a sunrise, a baby’s face or love in the eyes of a woman.
Give my heart to a person whose own heart has caused nothing but endless days of pain.
Give my blood to the teenager who was pulled from the wreckage of his car, so that he might live to see his grandchildren play.
Give my kidneys to one who depends on a machine to exist from week to week.
Take my bones, every muscle, every fiber and nerve in my body and find a way to make a crippled child walk.
Explore every corner of my brain. Take my cells, if necessary, and let them grow so that, someday a speechless boy will shout at the crack of a bat and a deaf girl will hear the sound of rain against her window.
Burn what is left of me and scatter the ashes to the winds to help the flowers grow.
If you must bury something, let it be my faults, my weaknesses and all prejudice against my fellow man.
Give my sins to the devil.
Give my soul to God.
If, by chance, you wish to remember me, do it with a kind deed or word to someone who needs you.
If you do all I have asked, I will live forever.
If you choose to become an organ donor- there are a few things that you need to follow.
1st- you need to have it noted on your driver’s license, if it is not time for a new driver’s license then make sure you do the following things.
2nd- you need to complete an organ donor card, and keep it next to your id, I have brought some donor cards with me, if any of you would like one- after class.
3rd- register your name on the SCOPA registry of donors
4th- share your wishes with your family- just because you have done the other things, does not mean your wishes are carried out. Hospitals will always approach the family for final consent.
Organ transplantation saves lives, but only if you agree to donate in time.
Thank you.
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This is not especially persuasive. Anything that is too emotional is usually not.
Hmmm- interesting that you would say that since my Speech professor said this was one of the best she had heard and this is one of several speeches that got me a "gig" writing speeches for the chancellor of my school.
To each his own I guess.
~~~Jacque~~~
"About as subtle as a flying brick!" Check out my other blogs: http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/jacquedale