Pretty much every ethnic group in the United States was the subject of racism or ethnocentrism at one point in history. Native Americans were robbed of their land; African Americans were condemned to a life of slavery; citizens of Asian origin were rounded up during the red scare; the Irish and Italians were discriminated against; and let us not forget what citizens from Latin American origins go through today. However, most people assume nowadays that racism is going away. When I was in college I used to hear how blacks are not really discriminated against anymore. Now the focus is on Latin Americans and those who follow the Muslim religion. As I expected, that is not true, not at all. Racism is all around us poisoning our life and sometimes helping kill innocents.

A new study of more than 2,200 patients treated at the Emory Transplant Center showed that black patients with ESRD (End Stage Renal Disease) had a 59% lower rate of kidney transplant than whites at this southeastern center. How bad is this? Extremely bad, especially since African Americans suffer from End Stage Renal Disease disproportionately compared to other races. For example, the incidence of kidney failure in blacks is 998 per million, while in whites it is 273 per million. African Americans constitute only about 15% of the total U.S population; however, they constitute about 30% of kidney failure cases. Not only this, but African Americans also develop kidney disease at an earlier age than Caucasian, 56 years old for blacks compared to 66 for whites. So, since African Americans seem to be more prone to kidney failure, one would think that transplant rates would be proportionate to the number of cases. Yet, in the case of Emory Transplant Center, black patients have a 59% lower rate of transplant. How does this make sense? Don’t all people have the right to life? Shouldn’t all people be treated equally when it comes to life saving treatments?!

The world’s first synthetic Windpipewas transplanted successfully in a human body in the Karolinska University Hospital in the Stockholm suburb of Huddinge, a hospital in Sweden. This transplant was carried out by an International team of surgeons. Their patient was a 36 year old man who was suffering from late stage tracheal cancer. For him to live a regular life again he needed to have a trachea transplant, or better known as a windpipe transplant.

The synthetic trachea was covered in with the man’s stem cells, and then was transplanted into his body. This procedure will be a revolution in the field of trachea transplants. It would eliminate the need of a donor. The patient would then not need to wait for a donor and just have a trachea synthetically made, then covered in their stem cells so the body can accept as its own.  This procedure will be extremely beneficial to patients who are children. It is much more difficult to find a trachea donor for children. So this would make it possible for all children regardless of age to find a donor much faster. Now that the procedure can be done sooner without the wait for a donor, the patient can have the surgery done sooner and can have more time to recover sooner.

I recently renewed my driver’s license and I read at the bottom. There was a check box that asked if I wanted to be an organ donor. I sat at the DMV thinking for a bit if I should or shouldn't. Then I realized that when I die, what will happen to my body? It will just decompose. I asked myself, what if I needed an organ? I saw it as, what a waste of an organ, if I don’t donate it. I could’ve given someone a chance to continue their life. Even though I can’t because I’m sitting in a box, why not allow someone else to live. I checked the box and decided to be a donor, and to this day I stand as a firm believer in donors. After I got my license and got home from the DMV that day, I began to think as I looked down at my license. When I die I won’t even know which organ was donated, and to who. To me the satisfaction of knowing I changed a life and going through it seems like one of the biggest things I can ever accomplish in my life.  There are approximately 80,000 people waiting for a kidney transplant. About 10 to 12 die every year waiting on the list to receive a kidney. The wait for a kidney transplant varies from month to month; but on average the wait to be on a list is 5 to 7 years. This is a long time for someone who is in need of a transplant and who doesn't have much time left with their life.

Facebook’s motto doesn’t lie when it says that it “helps you connect and share with the people in your life.”  This is true, but it now seems as if Facebook needs to tweak it up a bit, changing it to: “it helps you connect and share with the people in your life, and the people you need in your life.”  Social media sites such as Facebook or Twitter, are more than just procrastination tools, they can even be the tools for saving your life.