What does organ donation really entail? “The statistics for organ donation and transplantation in the country, albeit saddening, are not surprising. Because, after all, how can families even find room to think of such options when someone they love, with a beating heart and still warm to the touch, has just been declared brain dead?” shares Dr. Antonio Paraiso, Program Manager of the DOH-Philippine Network for Organ Sharing and Founder of the Human Organ Preservation Effort (H.O.P.E.). People who would put their feet into the shoes of those who have chosen to say no to organ donation would understand how it isn’t anyone’s idea of comfort, especially in such time of grief. “However, what we are continuing to advocate is the very essence of breathing life to losses—of carrying on with their stories by being lifelines to others,” says Paraiso. “Organ donors are referred to as lifelines because just one can let up to 50 people who were once captives of organ failure see, walk, breeze
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