Before cremations as part of the cremation services offered in Clinton Township, MI, some people have chosen to be organ donors or whole-body donors. Organ donations and whole-body donations after death can offer extended life, future hope, and changed worlds for many other people.

Whole-body donations after people die are done as way to help advance scientific research into eventually-fatal diseases, such as cancer, heart failure, muscular dystrophy, strokes, and cystic fibrosis, and neurological diseases, such as dementia, schizophrenia, and depression.

The process of donating your body for scientific research is relatively simple. First, you need to find a donation organization that is dedicated to scientific research. The easiest place to start is in your local community at universities that have medical schools. Most medical schools have a whole-body donation program already in place. There are also private scientific research companies that accept whole-body donations, but they are usually located in metropolitan areas, so your body would have to be transported from where you live to where the company is located.

Once you’ve identified the places where you can donate your body for research, you will need to contact them and pre-register as a whole-body donor. This can help you narrow down your final choice, since some organizations have very specific criteria for whole-body donations and you may not fall within that criteria.

Be sure to find out if you or your family will bear any obligations when you donate your body. Most body donation programs cover funeral expenses such as transportation and cremation, but you need to verify that the organization that you want to donate your body to covers them.

Once you’ve made your decision on where to donate your body, go ahead and take care of the necessary steps to ensure that your body is donated there after your death.

Be sure to tell your family that you are a registered whole-body donor. Let them know which organization you’ve registered with (so they can let the funeral director know), and let them know that you are doing this to help other people, now and in the future. This is also a good time to talk about memorial services and what you’d like to have in that service.

Make sure to update your will to reflect that you want to donate your body to scientific research. Include the name, address, and phone number of the organization that you are registered with.

Be sure to have a plan B. You may be in good health when you register with an organization to be a whole-body donor, but by the time you die, your health may not have been good enough to be accepted into the whole body donation program you chose. Let your family know what your plan B is, so they can be prepared as well.

Organ donations are live-saving and live-extending gifts to one or more people after you die. All the organs, except for the brain, can be harvest and transplanted into recipients with matching blood types. Body tissue is included in organ donations and these can be used for things like ligament and tendon replacements in people who have severely damaged or torn their own tendons and ligaments.

Becoming an organ donor is as simple as checking a box when you get a driver’s license or you renew an existing driver’s license. Again, it’s critical that you let your family know that you want your organs donated when you die, because you won’t be able to tell them then.

For more information about cremation services in Clinton Township, MI, our caring and knowledgeable staff at Lee-Ellena Funeral is here to assist you. You can visit our funeral home at 46530 Romeo Plank Rd., Macomb, MI 48044, or you can call us today at (586) 412-8999.