Filling in an organ donation card is one of the easiest ways of saving other people’s lives or helping them to live better.
Alfred Debattista knows very well how important organ donation is, because thanks to someone else’s generosity, today he is once again living life to the full.
Mr Debattista has made it a point to encourage people in Malta to donate their organs, and nine months after, he received a “new” heart, he set up the Transplant Support Group (TSG) in 2000.
He is the president of the group.
“There was a lack of information on the subject. The support group was set up to help families and patients who go through such a traumatic experience and need support,” he told The Malta Independent.
Today, the group has 190 registered members, all of whom received an organ transplant.
More than 10 years ago, Mr Debattista was told by doctors that he was in need of a heart transplant, or he only had a year to live. Treated with medicines, Mr Debattista lived for two years before a donor became available.
“I was lucky to find a donor,” he said, and he is alive because he received the heart of man who died in a tragic accident.
Ten years on, he believes he has a lot to give and the transplant gave him a new life and energy to do things.
“Before the operation, I did not have the energy to do anything. Today, I have picked up again all the activities I enjoyed in the past.”
Speaking about the support group, Mr Debattista said the group aims to help those who are waiting for a transplant and those who have had the operation.
The TSG also makes it a point never to forget those who donated their organs and it keeps regular contact with the donors’ families.
“Every November, Mass is said in memory of those who donated organs and saved other people’s lives. And we do this with the families of those who passed away but saved others,” Mr Debattista said.
The TSG works with other organisations with similar interests and they collaborate closely to increase awareness on the subject.
The first kidney transplant performed in Malta was carried out in 1983 and the first living kidney unrelated transplant was done in 2004.
The treasurer of the Transplant Support Group, James Muscat, donated a kidney to his brother-in-law who was diagnosed with end stage renal failure – an illness which meant he had to spend many hours, three times a week hooked up to a dialysis machine.
Most patients with kidney failure are suitable for a transplant, provided a suitable donor kidney can be found.
The most compatible donor is an identical twin – because the tissue type is identical. However, a kidney from a living relative is also possible.
Mr Debattista explained that the donor will not come to any harm because a human being does not need two kidneys to live a healthy life.
Living donor transplants are more beneficial than a cadaveric transplant as it is more likely to work in the short- and long-term.
Mr Debattista said a donor must be over the age of legal consent and the motivation behind the action has to be purely altruistic.
“We can never accept that organs are donated and any form of financial compensation is given in return – the action has to come from the heart,” he added.
The donor also has to have the same blood group as the patient and he or she must be in an excellent state of health.
Once the operation has taken place, the patient usually requests to meet the donor’s family through the Transplant Support Group. Mr Debattista explained that the meeting is organised only with the written consent of both parties.
“Mass is celebrated and then we have a small reception afterwards to give both families a chance to meet. It is always an emotional experience.”
The services offered by the TSG do not focus on the medical aspect alone, he pointed out.
“We try to help the patient in a holistic manner – spiritually, legally, ethically and mentally.”
Organ donor cards are of use if the card is with the person at the time it is needed, or if the relatives know that the individual carried a card and they inform the hospital, he explained.
Mr Debattista pointed out that people who have not filled in a donor card should start thinking about doing so.
“It is extremely important that potential donors inform their close family members that they want to donate their organs,” Mr Debattista added.
When a person dies without telling anyone that he or she wanted to have her organs donated, it can be very difficult and emotionally traumatic to approach the person’s relatives and tell them they have to take a decision.
Although the parents or close relatives ultimately have to take the final decision, “it is very rare for them to seek to override this wish”.
When an individual carries a donor card, it gives a clear indication to the family that he or she is willing to donate her organs after death.
There are over 45,000 registered donors in Malta and the number is continuing to increase.
For more information, visit the website www.transplantsupport.com.mt. Contact numbers of the committee of the Transplant Support Group can be found on the website.
Guidelines and conditions for prospective donors
1. Apply online for an organ donor card, or contact the Transplant Support Group.
2. Sign and carry a donor card.
3. Express your wishes to your family.
Patients with heart disease, infection and cancer are unsuitable patients.
Patients over 65 years old are not given a transplant because of the extent of the transplant operation and the immuno-repressive drugs needed after.
Over 95 per cent of transplant kidneys are from someone who has died.
All organs can be donated. However, the organ transplants done locally are those of the heart, the kidneys and the eye corneas. All other organs donated may be sent abroad – to Italy – should the need arise.
Factors such as gender, age, income or celebrity status are never considered when determining who receives an organ. The organ allocation is based on many factors including blood type, length of time on waiting list, severity of illness and other medical criteria.
People who have or have had some forms of cancer can be eye donors. They could be organ and tissue donors if they have been cancer-free for at least five years.
Life Cycle donations to the renal unit
2004/2005
14 Automated Peritoneal Dialysis (APD) machines (Lm4,000 each)
1 Kidney machine (Lm9,000)
Aloka ultrasound machine
Portable Site Rite vascular ultrasound machine
2003/2004
1 kidney machine (Lm9,000)
1 dialysis couch
Refurbishment and extension of Renal Unit (Lm15,000)
9 APD machines (Lm4,000 each)
2002/2003
6 kidney machines (Lm9,000 each)
3 APD machines (Lm4,000 each)
2000/2001
Air conditioning system for Renal Unit (Lm8,000)
Money donation towards the procurement of a Haemodialysis Reverse Osmosis Plant
1999 /2000
4 kidney machines
3 (APD) machines – Lm4,000 each
LifeCycle aims to: Collect, circulate and publish information promoting quality care to renal patients in Malta;
Organise activities and collect funds in aid of the Renal Unit at St Luke’s Hospital;
Donate all net funds & donations, to the Ministry of Health for Renal Units exclusive use;
Organise awareness campaigns to highlight the situation and needs of renal patients in Malta.
For more information, log onto www.lifecyclechallenge.com
Myths about organ donation
A dead person’s organs can be donated
Once a person is dead, the organs die with them. Organs can only be taken from people who are in intensive care, and whose life is being supported by machines. All organs can only be kept available for donation for 24 hours, except the cornea, which can be kept frozen for one year.
Doctors will not try to save a life if they know that the patient is a donor
The medical staff trying to save lives is completely separate from the transplant team. Donation takes place and transplant surgeons are called in only after all efforts to save a life have been exhausted and death is imminent – or has been declared.
Doctors will mistakenly declare a person dead to remove organs
Before a person is declared dead, doctors carry out certain tests to make sure that there are no vital signs left.
People can recover from brain death
People can recover from comas, but not brain death. Coma and brain death are not the same. Brain death is final. Once the person is brain dead, two doctors who are independent from the hospital and from each other, confirm the person dead at two separate times.
I am too old to donate organs and tissues
People of all ages may be organ and tissue donors. Physical condition, not age, is important. Physicians will decide whether organs and tissues can be transplanted.
My family will be charged for donating my organs
Donation costs are not the responsibility of the donor’s family or estate.
Donation will disfigure my body
Organs and tissues are removed in procedures similar to surgery, and all incisions are closed at the conclusion of the surgery. An open casket funeral is possible after donation.
The Church does not agree with organ donation
There are no moral implications against organ donation.
The Church agrees with organ donation as it is an act of generosity from one human being to another.