Help donate life in Pennsylvania

By Bruce Edwards

The loss of a child is every parent's worst nightmare. Five years after my 17-year-old daughter, Melissa, died, the pain is still fresh, the wounds still raw.

But out of a horrible car accident that took her life came something good, or at least something comforting to me and my wife: We donated Melissa's tissue, skin, bone, corneas, and heart valve. In her tragic and untimely death, she gave life - or a better quality of life - to more than 25 people.

Our family fully appreciates the incredible gift of organ and tissue donation. In addition to Melissa's donations, I received a corneal transplant in 1987. I'm able to see today because of it. And perhaps a burn patient or soldier home from Afghanistan is having a better quality of life today because of Melissa's tissue.

It is because of our family's experiences that I wholeheartedly believe in organ and tissue donation, and that's why I am doing everything I can to help pass House Bill 30/Senate Bill 850 - the Donate Life PA Act. Right now, more than 8,440 people in Pennsylvania are on a transplant waiting list, and that number has been rising.

The Donate Life PA Act will expand education about organ and tissue donation, which is the cornerstone of a successful state donor-designation campaign. The legislation will increase awareness by training medical, osteopathic, and nursing school students and by making educational materials available to high school and college students on organ and tissue donation.

As a father, I want more organs and tissue to become available for those in need. Of the 8,440 people on the waiting list, almost 250 are children. On average, more than nine people die each week in Pennsylvania while awaiting a lifesaving organ transplant. The sad fact is that the need for organs far exceeds the number of organs available.

As a retired state trooper and past president of the Pennsylvania State Troopers Association, it angers and frustrates me that misleading information could stall passage of this bill. What could be more important than saving lives?

Some opponents of H.B. 30 are saying it would impede a death investigation and keep people from doing their job. I would never support any cause or legislation that would jeopardize a death investigation - we owe that to the victim and family members. But I've read the bill. It does nothing to hamper a coroner's duty to investigate and support prosecution of any suspicious death. The legislation does not interfere with the pursuit of justice. H.B. 30 isn't about politics - it's about saving lives.

In all my years as a state trooper, I've never witnessed any recovery of organs - or a request for recovery of organs - that got in the way of a death investigation. Such arguments hold no water.

I know that sometimes fear and myths can keep people from becoming organ donors. One common myth is that organ donation inhibits an open-casket viewing. Not true. Even though we donated any usable tissue and bone from my daughter's body, we were still able to have a viewing with an open casket so her friends and family could say goodbye. And she was beautiful.

Would I give anything to have my dear daughter back living her life as a recent college graduate out in the world? Of course. But I am so grateful my wife and I made the decision to give what we could so that in Melissa's death others would live. Out of all the horror involved, we were able to find some comfort and good.

Help us save even more lives through passage of H.B. 30/S.B. 850 - the Donate Life PA Act. Urge your state legislators to support this bill and let them know you are counting on them to protect and speak for the 8,440 Pennsylvanians on the waiting list - children and adults who are fighting for their lives.