The moving story of the young Argentine woman who saved many lives

The death of little Justina Lo Cane in November 2017 moved a large part of the Argentine population. The girl was 12 years old and was waiting for a heart transplant that, unfortunately, ended up not getting it. And, thanks to the struggle of the girl and her family, the Justina Law was unanimously approved months later, which could have saved her life, facilitating the heart transplant she needed.

At the awesome.club, we will tell the story of Justina and we will report the important achievements thanks to her to her family.

The law was approved on July 4 and establishes that all people over 18 are organ and tissue donors, unless they expressly declare otherwise. The norm was approved thanks to the struggle of the girl and her family.

Another point of this law that must be implemented is the creation of Intra-hospital Supply Services. In this way, every day there will be a doctor responsible for carrying out the transplant in all the hospitals that need it, which will greatly accelerate the process in which time is extremely vital.

Justina Lo Cane, as we said, was a 12-year-old girl who died waiting for a heart transplant. The girl had a transgenic heart disease that was diagnosed at 18 months. For many years, thanks to the medication she was taking, Justina was able to lead a normal life. But in July 2017, she had to be hospitalized, due to the urgent need to receive a heart transplant. She waited for an organ compatible with her body, being the first on the transplant list, but she couldn’t take it anymore and died.

When Justina was told that she needed a heart transplant to live, she asked her family to promote an initiative to raise awareness of the importance of organ donation. Together, they created the campaign “Multiplique por Sete”, which went viral with the hashtag #LaCampañaDeJustina 🇧🇷Justina’s Campaign, in the Portuguese translation).

The work showed that a single organ donor can save up to 7 lives. The result was that the total daily donations in the neighboring country jumped from 80 to 330 in the last months of 2017.

The culture of organ donation is present in many countries. In Brazil, organ donation is only carried out with the consent of the person’s family or partner, without the need to be married, so it is important to make this wish clear to the family. The NGO Adote has a page where it provides guidance on how to become a donor and even explains the myths that still surround this procedure, such as organ trafficking.

In many parts of the world, unless you express your denial in writing, everyone is considered a donor. This is the case in Chile, Colombia, the United States (where, since 1984, people have been registered in a special registry), Mexico (from April of this year) and Spain, whose corresponding law has been in force since 1979 The latter is considered the leading country in donations and transplants, with a rate of 43 organ donors per million people. The Spanish model was recommended by the WHO (World Health Organization) and is being applied in different parts of the world, producing results very similar to those obtained in that country.

There are many exciting stories in which organ donation changed people’s destiny. And do you agree with this practice and with this new law?