Next week it will be four years since my Poppa passed away after a battle with cancer. While it was a hard time for my family, I guess we basically went through what most other families do in similar times and found new strengths in ourselves and each other.

This isn’t going to be one of those things where I harp on about how cool my Poppa was – although he was a very good man who loved and respected his family and friends – but I do feel I need to talk about him a bit so I can get to the point of what I am writing about.

Before my Poppa passed away, he decided he wanted to donate his body to medical research. He believed no good came from being cremated or buried, so if he could help others after he had gone then that would be good for everyone.

A few weeks after the funeral one of Poppa’s closest friends found out he also had cancer and did not have long to live. That afternoon he told his son that he’d like to do what Poppa had done, so they called the University of Auckland and made plans for his body to be donated to their medical department as well. Sadly, he passed away the following day, but because he had made his intentions known he too was able to “attend university” (as Poppa would’ve said).

Now you have the background, I’m going to get to the actual point of why I am writing all this.

One day, I will pass on and I hope to carry on the tradition that Poppa has started and donate my body to research as well (you know, that’s if we don’t have some futuristic robot clone thing happening by then). But, if all goes to plan, that’s not going to happen until well after I’ve started receiving my KiwiSaver payments.

So, I got to thinking how else I can help others... There’s thousands of different charities out there all saying you can change a life, you can help a family or a village or whatever, those charities are all doing good things and by all means you should donate to them if you want to; but really how can you tell where your $2 is going and how far it is stretching?

Some people prefer not to donate to the overseas appeals because there’s plenty of people that need help here instead, and those people fine thinking that way too; we can donate to Women’s Refuge or the Mission or wherever, but again a couple of bucks is only one loaf of bread to feed the thousands of people out there.

There is something that you can do – where you know exactly how much difference it makes, and by itself it can save a persons life. I know how cheesy that sounds, and I’m cringing as I read it, but it’s true. (I’m not getting anything out of this, I’m not selling anything or trying to convert you to some whacked out cult)

New Zealand has one of the lowest organ donation rates in the developed world, with only nine donors for every million people in the population. That’s like 40 people in the country are willing and able to help people that are dying from their illnesses. (so you know, in Spain the donation rate is 34.3 per million people, the USA is 24.6 & Britain is 13.2) At any one time there are about 400 people on the NZ transplant list and 350 of them are waiting for kidney transplants.

About 18 months ago I decided I wanted to become an altruistic (anonymous) kidney donor. I did the research, made calls to the District Health Board – basically I made a plan that this year I would go ahead with helping someone else live a better, longer life. Unfortunately, last year I also got kidney stones, and my Dad was diagnosed as being diabetic – so apparently I kinda need both my kidneys because I’m now at risk of having trouble myself later in life (ironic, I thought).

Anyway, when I was planning all this, I was a bit self-conscious about it all. Being a fairly private person I only told two of my friends about it because I thought others would either think I was a bit weird for wanting to separate myself from a body part for a person I didn’t know, or maybe they would think I was showing off and trying to get some good Samaritan of the year award or something. After I found out that I couldn’t do it I was glad I had kept it quiet, because it meant I wouldn’t have to explain to people why I wasn’t doing it, and that they won’t think that I had just chickened out (those who know me, know I don’t have a problem with pain or hospitals… and the way I figured my kidneys are not part of who I am as a person, so I wouldn’t miss one).

Recently though I’ve started thinking that keeping it quiet is a bit selfish. The whole reason I was doing it was to help others and just because I can’t do it doesn’t mean I can’t encourage others or at least inspire the thought to do it. I understand that surgery & parting with an organ just isn’t practical for a lot of people. There’s time, money, family, pain… any number of reasons not to do it.

Like I said before though, there are hundreds of people in New Zealand that need help, in the NZ Herald lately there have even been stories about the increasing number of people that have gone overseas and bought kidneys of the black market (one of those people later contracted hepatitis from the lack of testing in dodgy clinics). It’s a serious problem so even if it’s not for you at least you know about it, and you can maybe talk to others about it like I am.

If you are interested in finding out more information, check out the organ donation website – www.donor.org.nz – or the Kidney Foundation website - www.nzkidneyfoundation.co.nz – or let me know and I can email you the info I have from the Auckland District Health Board.

Yeah, that’s it. I’ll go back to being quiet again now :)

Thanks to Bennett @ www.kidneymission.org for some of this info too