The stories of children, struck by a tragic fate, will be told where organ donation is almost non-existent. In Italy, 28% still oppose donations
The story of the Italians shook the conscience of the Italians Nicholas Greenthe 7-year-old American boy on vacation in Italy with his family, shot to death from a bullet on the Salerno Reggio Calabria motorway 28 years ago: thanks to parents’ decision to donate her organs and corneas, 5 people were saved and sight was restored to two others. A gesture that prompted many compatriots to follow the example of the Greens: donations increased, therefore transplants and lives saved. Last April Rolly Prajapati, a six-year-old Indian girl, was killed in a shooting: her parents also decided to donate organs. Nicholas and Rolly’s families have turned their personal tragedy into a generous act of solidarity against unknown people waiting for a new organ. Now, with the new campaign to increase organ donationwhich leaves Messina on October 1st, the hope that the Nicholas effect will be repeated in the poorest countries in the world but also in developed ones, including Italy, where every day someone on the waiting list dies.
That love for Italy (reciprocated)
Nicholas’ dad tells us, Reginald Green, returned to Italy to support the new campaign: It will start on the same date (October 1) and in the same hospital where Nicholas died; this time a little Indian girl will help tell the world that what distinguishes the life of an organ donor is not the sudden calamity that has decreed his death, but the new life that has generated, and the hope of a better world that follows. Nicholas – remembers moved Reginald Green, now ninety – he loved Italy and although he was only seven, we had already brought him here three more times. Since his death, Italy has repaid that love of him many times, including over a hundred places named after him. Even more, the love of Italy was revealed in a practical way: in the ten years following his death, organ donation rates tripled. Understanding the strength of that reaction is crucial to ours new campaignwhich will be similar to the one that focused on Nicholas and which was so successful in Italy, but this time it will include Rolly. We will tell their stories in places in the world where organ donation is almost non-existent and, every year, hundreds of thousands of people die while they could be saved by transplanting new organs if they were donated.
Replicate the Nicholas effect
With the pandemic, donation rates have dropped around the world – explains Professor Deepak Gupta, a neurosurgeon at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi, who coordinated Rolly Prajapati’s organ donation -. In India, where organ donations are very few and pediatric ones are almost unknown, thanks to the media attention for the story of Rollywhose organs have saved other children, donations increased from April to August by over 60%. The hope that the Nicholas effect – which had driven the increase in donations in Italy – will be repeated in the poorest countries in the world but also in the areas lagging behind with donations, including some Italian regions.
There are those who still oppose it
Even in Italy at the beginning of the pandemic there was a decline in donations and transplants. Last year there was a recovery, with a recovery of more than 10 percent compared to 2020, and donations also increased by 6%, says Letizia Lombardini, medical director of the National Transplant Center. In our country too, the availability of donated organs is still lower than needed. Last year they were over 8,000 people on the waiting list for a transplant – Lombardini reports -. In our country, the opposition rate to donations averaged 28 percent. In addition to the refusal to remove the organs by the relatives of the deceased person, detected in resuscitationthey also registered too many “no” to the donation at the time of issue or renewal of the identity card. Dr. Lombardini reports: In 2021, out of 5 million Italians who renewed their identity cards, 3 million expressed their willingness to donate organs, several said “no”, others still did not express themselves.
International conference
The organ donation awareness campaign starts from Messina where the first edition of the International Conference will be held on 1 and 2 October DONARTE 2022 –
DOnation and Art: Nicholas And Rolly Testimonials.
Sicily at the bottom of the national donor ranking. There are just 11 donors per million inhabitants (compared to a national average of 24), while the opposition rate (people opposed to the donation) over 40 percent – reports the director of the anesthesia complex operating unit of the “Martino” Polyclinic of Messina, Anna Teresa Mazzeo -. the awareness of citizens is fundamental, which must go hand in hand with the training of health personnel.
September 30, 2022 (change September 30, 2022 | 13:34)
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