Facebook is now one of the allies in finding matching organ donors all over the world. The most popular social network played a crucial role in the lives of the Browns, a family looking for a kidney donor for dad Damon Brown. And according to United Network for Organ Sharing reps, it was not the only case, the Associated Press reports.
Lately, Facebook has become a reliable source of matching organ donors. April Paschke, a spokeswoman for the United Network for Organ Sharing says that there are “more and more people matched up by social media”.
The latest organ donation request was made in late 2011, by a man named Damon Brown, living in Seattle. The 38-year-old husband and father created a Facebook page where he shared his story. Only a few weeks later, a woman that he knew, but wasn’t actually friends with, was found compatible with Damon and agreed to give him the kidney he so much needs. The surgery will take place on January 3.
Brown admits that at first it was a little embarrassing for him to present his problem to such a numerous public and ask for help. But facing a somber perspective of waiting for years until a donor is found, he saw the Facebook opportunity as the best he could ever get. He also noticed that people cared about him and his condition, as his page managed to gather 1,400 friends who shared his story around. After finding the donor, Damon posted the good news on Facebook and got no less than 300 messages of congrats.
In 2011, the social networks helped several people finding matching donors. Among them ,there was a woman from Michigan who managed to find a kidney donor on Facebook and a woman in Florida, with the same problem, who found a donor using Craiglist.
0 comments:
Post a Comment