A Life Everlasting by Sarah Gray Page B

territory.
    As she explained it to me, there are three general categories of donation: The first is for organ donation for transplant such as heart, lungs, liver, kidney and pancreas. Organ donation for transplant has the most stringent criteria and it changes as medical advances come along. Since organs need oxygen to function and people stop breathing after they die, typically the donor needs to have help from some kind of machine that can circulate oxygen through their body at the time of death. Organs are typically removed and on their way to be transplanted within an hour of the cessation of oxygen to the body.
    The second category is for tissue donation for transplant (corneas, skin, bone, heart valves, tendons, ligaments, nerve tissue, blood vessels, etc.). Tissues do not need to be transplanted as quickly as organs. In fact, some tissues, such as heart valves, can be frozen for years.
    Third is donation for research or therapy. If the organ, eye, or tissue is determined to be unsuitable for transplant (due to a lack of oxygen, positive test for a disease, having an unusual anatomical structure, or a variety of other reasons), it could be donated for medical or scientific research or a variety of therapies.
    As we waited in the prep room, Becky told me that the organization that WRTC had in mind for Thomas’s liver donation was Cytonet, a biomedical company in Durham, North Carolina. Cytonet had developed a protocol for transplanting liver cells into children with malfunctioning livers who aretoo small to receive a full organ transplant. The liver cells are injected as a bridge therapy to help the malfunctioning liver do its job until the children are big enough to go on the organ transplant list. Without this novel therapy, most of these children would die. The Cytonet option was the first opportunity WRTC had heard about for anencephalic infants, but, this, too, presented a new challenge. The recovery method was an unexplored area that fell between donation for transplant and donation for therapy: the liver had to be recovered within a certain time frame to remain viable, but less quickly than it would have to be for an organ transplant.
    Cytonet required that donated livers be free from communicable disease, so WRTC needed a sample of my blood on the day of the birth to make sure I didn’t have a disease like HIV or hepatitis that I might pass on to Thomas, which would rule out a donation to Cytonet. (Though diseased tissue is normally not suitable for transplant, it is extremely valuable for disease-specific research. In addition, after the Hope Act of 2015, a donor who is HIV-positive can donate organs for transplant to recipients who are already HIV-positive.)
    On a good day, nurses can’t find my veins. Because per C-section surgery rules I had not eaten or had anything to drink since midnight, I was dehydrated, and this made my veins collapse. The nurse was really struggling to insert a needle into the top of my hand, and was apologizing the whole time. She was trying to be gentle, but after numerous failed attempts my hand swelled up like a bear paw, and she left to find a colleague to help.
    Ross was getting woozy.
    â€œYou don’t have to do this,” Becky said to me. “It’s up to you.”
    â€œLet’s forget it,” Ross said. “It’s not going to happen.”
    I looked at Becky. “But if I don’t do it, we can’t donate, right?”
    She looked at the floor. “You don’t have to donate.”
    â€œI want to donate. After all the work we have done? We’ll get some blood.”
    The nurse came back with a doctor, the vein-finding ringer. Eventually, success! A vein.
    â€œI’m sorry it took so long,” Becky said, gathering up the tubes that now held my blood. “I’m going to bring this to the office now. I’ll talk to you soon. Good luck!”
    â€œThank you,” I said.
    â€œNo, thank you ,” she