Somebody sent this to me, and asked me to share it, around. Ummmm....... Ok.........

[Ms. Toad]

43. It is a factor - but the biggest significance is when you are trying to be a live donor.

Live donors for kidneys and livers are capped at 55-ish (it depends on the transplant center). The limit is because a live donor transplant takes a healthy patient and creates a sicker one (temporarily). There are risks associate with the surgery, so they have to put a cap on the age of the live donor to protect the donor.

With a deceased donor, they don't have to worry about risk to the donor - and the organs themselves are viable at a much older age than the cut-off for live donation. Whether the organ is good for transplant is a decision that will be made at the time. Even less than perfect organs may still be used for transplant under some circumstances. For example, a liver from a person who is HIV+ can be transplanted into a person who is also HIV+ (even though it would not be offered to a HIV- person). They are also offering less than perfect organs to people who might otherwise die on the wait list (e.g. Hep C positive organs - since hepatitis C can be treated now).

So - there's no harm in being an organ donor. They will use what they can, and they are able to use more and more as they are finding out how to overcome barriers that destined some organs for the trash bin in the past.