What Does Donor Mean? How to Become a Donor?

A cadaveric donor refers to a person who has experienced brain death and is considered medically dead in intensive care, whose organs (heart, lungs, pancreas, etc.) are removed with their family's permission and transplanted to waiting patients. A living donor refers to a healthy person surgically donating one of their kidneys or a piece of their liver, usually to a close relative.

Anyone who is over 18 years old and of sound mind can be an organ donor. You just need to go to state hospitals, Health Directorates, or Family Physicians to fill out an "Organ Donation Form" and carry the "Donor Card" given to you. Most importantly, share this wish with your family, because according to the law, the final decision (approval) right at the time of death still rests with your family.

It is never difficult or scary. You can register with the TÜRKÖK system by going to Kızılay (Red Crescent) blood centers and giving just 3 tubes of blood (like a normal blood test) for Leukemia (blood cancer) patients. If your genetics match a patient, stem cells are collected from your arm (without surgery) using an "Apheresis" machine, just like donating blood. You become a hero to a child without losing anything from your own life.