Dying to Live

About twenty people die each day in the United States waiting for a life-saving transplant organ that never comes -- because too few of us are donors. When an organ does become available doctors have only a few hours to get it from the donor to the recipient. Each minute is crucial as they work to take just one patient off the transplant list. DYING TO LIVE captures a year in the lives of four people waiting to become sick enough to reach the top of the list.

Kevin seems like a typical suburban father until you learn that his life might be cut short due to a defective liver duct. Each time his duct fails he comes dangerously close to death but his doctors are able to stabilize his condition long enough that he's never eligible for a transplant. Katherine discovered her liver would eventually fail during a routine physical more than a decade ago, just before she and her husband Roy were married. Now she's caught in a medical limbo. Thirty-one-year-old Andrew was diagnosed with end-stage kidney failure two years ago and is reminded that his call might never come each time he receives dialysis. Myrna knows she's fortunate to have the support of her loving husband, sister and lifelong friends, as her prospect of receiving a new kidney seems more and more doubtful. DYING TO LIVE follows their uncertain medical paths as they meet with doctors at Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia waiting for organ transplants.

Interlaced with the stories of patients like Myrna, the filmmakers chronicle the often times complex decision of becoming an organ donor. Barbara Kilgore, a teaching nurse at Emory Adventist Hospital learns of Andrew's plight and though they have never met, agrees to donate her own kidney after learning she is a blood match.

Twenty-one-year-old Chase Christman suffered a fatal brain injury while at work and his family is determined to carry out his wish to be an organ donor. Katherine won't find out until weeks after recovery from surgery that her liver transplant was the result of Chase's tragic death when she's given the rare opportunity to meet with his family. During the meeting the Christman's find some relief in coping with Chase's death knowing Katherine, and the others who received an organ from Chase are healthy and alive today.

Their meeting is just one of the many emotional highlights in these interwoven stories of remarkable people. Their moments of joy and sadness may shake you, may make you laugh or make you cry, but you will never forget them. Doctors and other medical experts also share insightful advice and dispel common myths for anyone thinking of becoming an organ donor.

http://icarusfilms.com/fanlight/dtl.html

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• Icarus Films
• Documentary
• John Robbins
• Lance Lipman
• Fanlight Productions
• Medical
• Health
• Organ
• Organ Transplant
• Piedmont Hospital
• Atlanta
• Organ Donor
• Liver Transplant

[FolkBoyify]

@Boss5414 WTF? GROW Organs? Use common sense. HOW can we GROW organs? You mean CLONE them? Why should we? Clones are gonna grow FASTER. Meaning the person with the cloned organ DIES

-14 yr old

[Boss5414]

Why don't we grow organs and shit? The technology is out there, it's a million times better than getting an old organ that can face numerous problems...

Grow organs and shit NOW!

[ChristianChannel1]

@ImNotRacistImBias, No, not true. I've been involved with transplant patients for several years and believe me they do not hope anyone dies. As a matter of fact most patients that receive a transplant grieve that someone has died. The transplant team works with the patients to help them accept the gift of life someone so wonderful gave them. The person would have died anyway. The only benefit is that they were a donor. Believe me the patient sees it that way.

[ImNotRacistImBias]

Organ donation is a sticky thing. On one hand people need these organs to live, but on the other they have to hope someone else dies in order for them to live longer.

[urthebest1122]

That person on here laughing will learn when he gets older that these issues are serious. Some children are ignorant to these things. And, if this is an adult, then, yes, douchebag is the correct term for this idiot, lol.

[JusticeSportsman]

@yumyumsmile ahhahahahahahahahahahahahahaha­­hahahaaaaahhhhhhhhhhahahahaha­h­­ahahahahahahahahahaha

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[yumyumsmile]

@commando5890 your a fucking duche bag fuck head man millions of people die a year and i pray on day your one of them people rot in hell

[commando5890]

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