Your Hot Body

by Sandra

That’s right, your body is hot. H-O-T. Even after a couple of kids with sagging parts and stretchmarky parts and parts that have generally re-distributed themselves, it is a hot commodity. In both the traditional sense of: I-love-my-curves-or-lack-of-curves-and-that-self-confidencs-makes-me-sexy kind of way. But also in the: my-body-is-hot-because-it-can-do-a lot-of- good kind of way.

That’s right girlfriend, use that body of yours.

We’ve all heard those “it’s in you to give” commercials and the 1-888-2-DONATE number that I know almost as well as Pizza Pizza’s. Those ads play constantly because our blood banks need blood. They really, really do. In fact, their website reports that every minute of every day, someone in Canada needs blood. A cancer patient requires roughly 8 units of blood every week. A car accident victim could need as much as 50 units of blood. A liver transplant recipient often must receive up to 100 units of blood.

It doesn’t cost you any money and doesn’t take a ton of time. But it is one of the most tangible ways you can help people. It is literally life saving. And there are blood donor clinics happening all over the city. Basically if you are between 17 and 71, haven’t donated in the past 56 days, weigh at least 110 lbs, and are in good health then they want you. If you have had a pregnancy within the last 6 months you need to wait but otherwise, most mamas are absolutely great candidates

And its not just blood you can donate through Canadian Blood Services. They are also urging people to consider donating plasma, and platelets and become part of a bone marrow registry. I didn’t know you could be part of the “Unrelated Bone Marrow Donor Registry” until today. I also didn’t know that fewer than 30 percent of patients who need bone marrow transplants are able to find a compatible donor within their own family. Fewer than 30 percent. I am going to register. Today. Now if only someone could use my wrinkles, I’d gladly donate those too.

But what if you faint at the sight of a needle? Your body is still hot, hot, hot. I wish I could suggest you can donate breast milk, but at present there is only 1 clinic in Canada and that is in Vancouver (there used to be 23 in total before cut backs and the tainted blood scandal). But there are some good people working very hard to try and get one going here in T.O. I’ll keep you posted.

We can’t forget about your gorgeous hair. This one is a win-win. You get a fabulous new look by cutting 10 inches off your long tresses and someone in need receives an equally fabulous wig when you donate to a great organization like Locks of Love or the local Angel Hair for Kids.

And then there are organ donations. Here is where I get down on bended knee with that look you can’t avert your eyes from and I urge that you to really, really think about what I am about to ask you to do. It doesn’t involve a needle or an extreme haircut. It just involves signing your name to a card and communicating your wishes to your family. Become an organ donor. You can download a cute card to fill out and keep in your wallet and give to your family here or here.

Did you know that there are over 4000 people waiting to receive an organ transplant in Canada? Or that five people die each week waiting for transplants that can’t take place because of the shortage of donated organs. Those numbers might feel abstract, but for many of us they are painful reminders.

One of my best friends in the world fell madly in love with an incredible man. They had one of those epic romances that rival the greatest of movies. The look in her eyes was the epitome of true happiness. Shortly after they were married, he was admitted to the hospital to treat his Cystic Fibrosis and this time they were told that he’d have to stay and wait for a double lung transplant. So my friend left her job and sold her house and spent every waking moment by his side in the hospital. Loving him. And Waiting. Waiting for the lungs that would give him new life so they could start theirs together. They waited for more than a year and those lungs never came. He died, in her arms, in his 30’s in November of 1999. It was the single most heart breaking memorial service I have ever attended. His passing touched hundreds of people. And it was that day that I am ashamed to say I only signed my organ donor card for the very first time. And it was that day that I became an advocate for organ donation.

We don’t want to think of the idea of what happens to our parts when we are gone. We don’t want to think about going. We figure our family will just do the right thing and know that organ donation would be what we want. But sometimes, when you are sad with loss the idea of letting the doctors remove organs isn’t where their head is at. So sign the card. Tell your family. Make it really clear. Because that solitary act can save a life. A life like my friend lost.

And what’s the point of having a hot body if you can’t share it?

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When she is not raising her 5-year-old-boy-genius, Sandra is an ex-advertising exec who spends her days working with a grassroots feminist charity. She is also an aspiring writer, chocolate-loving vegetarian … and a blogger.