My brother almost died waiting on a liver transplant. He never smoked and did not drink. He just started turning yellow and his stomach began swelling. He was misdiagnosed a few times. Once they figured out his liver was bad he had to be sick enough to go on the list. When he acheived that level of sickness he was around 84lbs and was so fatigued that he couldn't stay awake for very long. He was admitted into the hospital and expected to die. Once you are sick enough to get a transplant you also have to get well enough for the doctors to give you one. You have to survive the surgery. My parents were his support team. They encouraged him everyday even after they induced coma. They encouraged and prayed for the drs and nurses and with other patient's families. The Drs wanted to give up and kept telling us they he wouldn't survive and every time my mom insisted that their is a God and that my brother was not going to leave this world because the med. staff wanted to give up on him before he was dead. A liver came available and my brother was to sick to receive it; but, the drs decided to take the chance and experiment to see if he would survive.
They did the surgery and the nurse came out and told the family that he didn't make it. His wife said "I still feel him" and put her hand on her heart. "HE'S ALIVE, YEAH, He's not dead, HE'S ALIVE" yelled a friend of the family. And the rest of my family began to cheer exclaiming that he was going to make it. The nurse was so startled that she ran out of the room. Fifteen minutes later a Dr came in and said "He made it! I've given him enough medicine to kill a horse; but, he made it. " That was 2 yrs ago and he is living a normal life.

The thing is that many other people died waiting for a liver at the time that he was there. The drs had to decide who they would give it to. If more organs were available people would not die in wait. I believe that my life rests in the hands of God. But, it's not necessary, with as many people that die every day, for Dr's to have to choose among multiple patients as to which one of them will get to live. No one at the hospital believed that my brother would live to walk out.

I can only think of reasons to BE an organ donor.
To give what I can no longer use so that another person can survive or have a drastically improved quality of life? Why not?

When I read the plentiful stories of people who donated their organs... I always make sure to have some tissue handy.
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2006/12/transplant_stories.html

I don't plan on wasting away in a coffin when I die, so if depending on my own condition... I'd like to give as much of myself to anyone that could use it.

I grew up learning how to play the song 'Please Don't Bury Me' by John Prine.
The words and music are what I live by.
http://www.cowboylyrics.com/lyrics/prine-john/please-dont-bury-me-10851.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tADPD5mpqRM