well can l get a pancrious transplant and if not why is it an organ on a donars card if so how do l go about getting oneif not why

l do not think so!

l do not believe so and although l am not an expert, l believe the same blood cells that killed the insulin producing cells in the first one would soon get to work on the second. l assume it is cos of diabetes, right? Boh, ask a doctor!

In the UK, my understanding is that pancreas transplants are not often carried out anymore with the advent if islet cell transplants taking place. There are, however, joint kidney and pancreas transplants being done. This would, undoubtedly, be when your kidneys are in dire straits. l am no expert in this field, however, so my advice to you would be to seek official clarification of this through your doctor.

l am afraid that pancreatic transplants are not yet possible. There is however a lot of interest and experimentation going on with regard to pancreatic islet cell implants as a possible answer for type 1 diabetes.

A person who can otherwise survive without a transplant (ie, a diabetic who can take insulin) WILL limit their life-span severely by receiving a transplant.

The problem is, transplants put u at risk for two major problems- both of which u r essentially bound to get at one point.

The first is 'rejection'- this means that ur body recognizes the new organ as a foreign object, like an infection, & attacks it. We prevent this by giving a person immunosuppresant drugs, which r drugs that weaken ur body is defenses & hold this off.

Aside from being extremely costly, the major side effect of these drugs is that they r not yet selective. This means, they will not merely weaken ur body is ability to fight off ur transplanted organ, but ALSO any illnesses u may get- a simple cold can easily kill you, but u can not lower the dose without risking losing ur organ.

Medicine does a lot with balancing doses & treating infection & rejection, but in the end, people with transplants just do not live that long- u r at a substantial risk of dying on the table or dying within the first year.

There is one exception where pancreas transplantation may be done, & this is when a person is diabetes has induced kidney failure & the person medically needs a kidney transplant to survive, making the risks of dying sooner better than the probability of dying in a month or two.

All the issues of infection & rejection & what we define as 'life saving' aside, u fail to notice that just because SOME people donate pancreases, it does not mean we have an abundance going around.

The reality is, people need pancreases (and indeed other organs) for lots of genuinely life-saving reasons, unlike yours. Most of those people DIE WAITING.

l am a bone marrow transplant recipient, & living with CGHVD. l no longer qualify for the other organs that might buy me years of quality living- because probability says that someone will be able to live longer with those organs that l will.

l waited. l waited longer than was reasonable, longer than l should have survived. l was one of the lucky ones. Most of my friends on the list died there.

l am still waiting to be considered a 'candidate' again, with the knowledge that as long as the organ shortage continues.. that will never come.

We do not have enough organs to go around. We do not have enough organs even to save those who manage to prove sickness, psychological stability, ect & climb the list- so we place number values on lives & disregard the older, the sicker, the more fragile in pursuit of saving as many as we can.

Which is not everyone.

Want to change that? Donate what u can. If it is only ur corneas, or if most of ur organs / blood / bone marrow is viable.. donate! Donate blood now, get on that bone marrow registry, & fill out ur local organ donor card & TELL FAMILY that u wish to donate. It is the only way to make it possible.