Give before you leave

This was the 15th day after he was rushed to the hospital in a critical condition. Tubes and masks were keeping him alive.
“We have already informed the whole family.” They were all coming from near and far. No one mentioned it, but they were coming to be around when the inevitable happened.
“The good thing is his will is in place. So, no disputes later,” someone whispered. “Anything about organ donation?” came a hesitant question in response.
“How dare you talk like that,” an elder member of the family screamed when she heard that. “We are trying to save him and not cut him to pieces so that someone else can live. We love him. We respect him.”
But haven’t the doctors already indicated that his brain is dead, and he is being kept alive? No, nobody dared ask that question aloud.

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“Cremate me,” he said unexpectedly. He was old but not that old and fairly healthy. And cremation was not the common practice in his religion. “Wait! Donate all that you can, at least all the parts in my body that are working,” he laughed as if it was a joke. “Whatever is left give it to some medical college. Why waste wood or electricity when my body can teach some youngsters,” he laughed louder, though several others in that family gathering were unsure if it was appropriate to laugh.
Years later, after he passed on, no one was sure how many lives his death touched.
But some who came for the mourning rituals were aghast. “How could you?”
That was his wish.
​“How do we pay our respects now when there is no body?”

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This is the wheelchair she used. Maybe it can help someone else now.

And this walker he never got to use for long though he, more than all of us, were hopeful that he would eventually get back to walking normally or even running.

We have sanitized this commode chair though we are not sure if it is okay for someone else to use this.
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Days or even weeks after someone dear moves on, these are common donations. Because those might help someone. Because no one wants a reminder of a dear departed lying in a corner.

Donate life

What is less common is the intention to donate the eyes, the heart, the liver, or any organ that may help someone else live a little longer or help complete a life or two. Donations that can’t be bought from the nearest shop.

According to renowned neurosurgeon, Dr Mazda Turel, “There are innumerable reasons for a family to decide in favour of or against donating organs. In India, very few people make their intentions known when they are alive, and hence, it is up to the next of kin to take a call.” The latter makes it tougher.
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“In some cultures,” Dr Turel writes, “beliefs regarding life, death, and rebirth influence the decision to donate organs. Others believe that the body should not be harmed after death. In many societies, death is surrounded by rituals and taboos. There are superstitions that suggest tampering with the body can invite bad luck or prevent the soul from resting in peace.”

Born, must die

Let us for a minute, shed our emotions and superstitions. Let us examine our body. It is a marvelous machine. However, it does not take long to decay and stink once it runs out of the fuel of life.

The process of decomposition is said to start four minutes after death. Without blood circulation and respiration, there is excess carbon dioxide formation leading to an acidic environment. Enzymes start eating the cells from inside out. Released gases cause bloating and putrefaction (yes, that unmistakable smell of death). Finally, everything soft (organs, muscles, and skin) becomes liquid, leaving only the skeleton.

A natural process, no doubt. That apart, are the final rituals the best way you would like to give respect to your own body or that of a loved one?

Will your end

Instead, if you will in advance that your organs be donated (or your family did so before it was too late) you could save up to eight lives, help two people see, heal up to 75 burn and wound victims or help someone restore their hand or face.

It is a difficult decision for anyone, except you. Because, you have every legal, moral, and ethical right to decide what will happen to your body after you are no more. You are in no way changing the ordained course of your life by documenting this decision and letting your people know.

And when this is known, it becomes easier to make transplants within a viable time frame: heart and lungs within four to six hours, liver within eight to twelve hours, kidneys within a day or two, and so on.
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Your life will end. No one can change that. But what you can change is how, after that end, your organs could help others begin a new life. Thanks to you.

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References:
https://mazdaturel.com/the-surgical-donor/

https://www.donoralliance.org/newsroom/donation-essentials/what-is-the-time-frame-for-transplanting-organs/

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/treatments/11750-organ-donation-and-transplantation

https://www.aftermath.com/content/human-decomposition/