I'm a transplant patient asking my relatives to vaccinate my daughter.

Five years ago this month, the surgery team at Oxner Hospital in New Orleans removed the kidneys from my cousin Aisha and put it inside me. Before the implantation, doctors pointed out that the surgery a living donor can endure is the only thing that does not provide physical benefits to the patient. Even now, a mixture of gratitude and distrust still comes to me, considering Aisha is serving her surgery.

Immunosuppression is a necessary component of transplant surgery and living with the transplanted organs. The doctor and my family had a consultation in advance. Transplant patients who have simply been sent to hospital due to their immune system being so weak. We were particularly worried when we recovered from our surgery as every day brought about worse news about the novel coronavirus spreading throughout the United States.

I felt a great pain not only for me, but for my cousin, to be free from infection. There was a lingering threat that something would happen to me when she came to believe that her sacrifice was in vain.

That's because I know I feel I rely on other people's organs to help them live. Know what it's like to get sick quickly and slow healing. And I know the fear of wasting organs given to me, not understanding recent news articles from Cincinnati: Couples Far-relevant with JD Vance Vice President He refuses to agree to the vaccinations required to put his 12-year-old daughter on the heart transplant list.

Janeen Deal says her family is urging religious disputes to the vaccine, and considers it an outrage. The doctor won't list her and her husband's children without her being vaccinated against the flu and covid. However, other people's organs are too valuable, the list of donors is too long, the risk of life-threatening infections is too high, and those who choose not to protect themselves and their loved ones from infections are considered for the transplanted organs.

Without naming the girl, Cincinnati Children's Hospital issued a statement Wednesday. It maximizes successful results For children in need.

“Since children who have been transplanted will be immunosuppressed for the rest of their lives, vaccines will play an important role in preventing or reducing the risk of life-threatening infections, particularly in the first year. These decisions include discussions between providers and the patient's family.”

There has been a recent disturbing move to treat people who have not been vaccinated As a protected class. Essentially, many of the same people who reject diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in other contexts demand equality and inclusion from those who wish that freedom here spread preventable diseases. However, organ procurement agencies and transplant teams have all the reasons to privilege those who have taken steps to avoid or minimize the impact of a dangerous infectious disease.

Everyone who needs a transplant is equal under the law, but no one has an equal chance of getting it. Aisha and I lost cousin Kevin about 12 years ago, diabetes caused his kidney failure. He couldn't be on the transplant list, he told me. He passed away at the age of 39.

Similarly, I made it clear to me that I am not eligible for that kidney transplant If my blood pressure wasn't controlled. Or if I give my doctor a reason to believe I can't trust me to take my medication as prescribed.

My feeling is Too much subjectivity and bias Proceed to determine whether you are eligible for the implant. That said, doctors consider their responsibility to make sure that the donated organs go to those who believe they will take care of them best. And getting vaccinated is objectively one of many ways that transplant patients can stay healthy.

Obviously, there is a huge difference between heart and kidney transplants, but the biggest one is that every donated heart comes from the person who died. Experts say People receiving corpse organs There is another combination of emotions More than I've experienced. They are often a mixture of gratitude and guilt, in which their fortunes depended on someone else's death.

If someone else (and perhaps even someone else's child) knew my child had to die to live, I could not imagine that they would have done everything they could to make sure their final gifts endure.

The parents of young girls are entitled to their beliefs, but beliefs arise. They're not the only ones. That's not the case with their daughter either. All the hearts donated will be provided by families of deep grief. And those families deserve to know that their gifts will be sent to those who have demonstrated that they will provide the best possible care.