Tissue donation improves thousands of lives each year. These recipients are spared amputation, recover after breast cancer treatment, return to the field following sports injuries, survive devasting burns and more. Because the criteria for donating tissue is much different than organ donation, many more people have the opportunity to be tissue donors. So many people can enjoy an improved quality of life and have more time to spend with friends and families with the simple decision to donate.
Tissue donation differs from organ donation in several ways. First, tissues such as corneas, heart valves, skin, bone, tendons and cartilage are usually readily available when someone needs them. Tissue is first made available to people in the same geographic area where it was recovered. While organs must be transplanted within hours of recovery; tissue donations can be packaged and kept for up to five years.
Mid-South Transplant Foundation partners with the Mid-South Eye Bank and the Mississippi Lions Eye Bank, both members of the Advancing Sight Network which is focused on its purpose: the restoration of eyesight.
The organizations provide eye tissue for both sight-saving surgeries, medical researchers who are discovering cures for diseases, which can cause blindness. Their team of experts recovers donated eye tissue with the utmost respect for the donor and prepares the tissue with precision for corneal transplant or ocular research.
