GRAND HAVEN, Mich. — As a community relations coordinator for Gift of Life Michigan, Taneisha Carswell says she'll talk about organ donation to anyone who will listen. But in the month of August, the organization puts extra emphasis on reaching people of color, and there's an important reason for that.
"Currently in the United Sates, there are over 100,000 people that are waiting for a life-saving transplant. And of those 100,000 people, approximately 60% are of the multicultural ethnicity, and that's because some of the top health factors that lead to organ failure are diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease, and those three health causes are high among multicultural communities," she said.
Organ donation recipients can receive organs from donors who are from a different ethnicity than them. However, the odds of being a match are higher when the donor and the recipient are from similar genetic backgrounds, and Taneisha says people of color are more reluctant to become donors.
"When it comes to donation, we don't have that high diversity that we need, and we know it's because of the distrust of the medical system and things that happened in the past, and it's completely understandable. That's why we're here now to educate the communities about what is going on and the correct facts about organ and tissue donation," she said.
Taneisha says she tells her story as a way to fight skepticism.
"I am a recipient as well as a donor family. I received a kidney transplant a little over 16 years ago. And I am a donor family member. My five-month-old nephew died, and my sister remembered everything that we went through as a family while I was waiting for a transplant, and she didn't want a family to go through that one more day, so she allowed my five-month-old nephew to become an organ and tissue donor," she said.
"I oftentimes share that story with people, just to kind of have them relate. But along with that, I am in the community telling people I understand what happened in the past and I understand what's going on now. But we have a more diverse medical system now than we've ever had before. The medical system looks like most communities. If you go into the medical system, you are going to see somebody that looks like you and somebody that cares and will take care of you."
If you'd like to learn more about registering to become an organ donor, Gift of Life Michigan has a detailed description on their website of how the process works. You can also visit the Michigan Secretary of State's website.
Along with becoming an organ donor, Taneisha wants to educate people about how they can avoid organ failure in the first place.
"Some of the steps that we take are we help people to learn how to eat a little healthier, do exercises day-to-day - activities that will help eliminate you from finding yourself on the list for needing a life-saving transplant," she said.
"It's extremely important to have a primary care physician - someone that can help you know your numbers, someone that can recognize if something is going on. They can help you get on a medication or tell you what you need to do to bring those numbers down, or even get rid of those high numbers."
Taneisha says it means a lot to her to help people by sharing her story and all this educational information.
"Without my transplant, I'm not even sure that I would be here to share the story and to educate people about the importance of organ and tissue donation," she said.
"I try to put my positive story out there so that everybody can remember it. It's such a great story. I am here today to share my story. I am here to help save lives, and I absolutely love what I do."
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