United Tissue Network: Seth Murphy's Story

NORMAN, Okla., August 15, 2018 (Newswire.com) - Cheat death, have immortality guaranteed and leave a lasting legacy by being a whole-body donor. United Tissue Network (UTN), a non-profit 501(c)(3) and accredited whole-body donation company, was recently featured in Men's Health. 

A couple of months ago, Seth Murphy, one of United Tissue Network's donors, was featured in Men's Health magazine. Murphy had been fighting colon cancer and spent his life as an oil and gas attorney in Oklahoma. He was unmarried and didn't have any kids. With one glance, it may seem like Murphy did not leave a lasting legacy when he lost his fight to colon cancer. However, Murphy had pledged to be a whole-body donor. He lives on through his organ donations and through medical advancements made with his body donation.

He gave throughout his life and although he lost his battle with cancer, he's winning now by letting his body be used in so many ways.

Rexanna Murphy, Mother to Seth Murphy

"He gave throughout his life and although he lost his battle with cancer, he's winning now by letting his body be used in so many ways," Seth Murphy's mother Rexanna Murphy said.

UTN's vision is to overcome the worldwide tissue shortage - one donor at a time. They provide families with resources for planning end-of-life decisions and at-the-time-of-passing decisions.

"About 50,000 whole-body donations occur annually in the United States and each donor is placed into six medical education and/or research programs, on average. The nation's whole-body donations could double and still not meet the need," UTN's Executive Director Alyssa Harrison said.

That is why UTN understands the importance of Seth Murphy's selfless contribution and wants to highlight the impact of his donation. UTN welcomes anyone to join their registry, as they accept people at all stages of life.

Being a whole-body donor contributes to a wide variety of medical advancements including surgical device development, advanced disease-based research, and hands-on bio skills training. Human donors provide the most realistic representation of the human anatomy, which is an ideal model to perform advanced surgical training. 

One example of how Murphy's donation benefited education, training, and research was his left and right shoulders were sent to a research center in Colorado where doctors in their fellowship were able to practice rotator cuff and labrum repair surgery. Then both of Murphy's shoulders became part of two research projects. One was used to determine the best method to fix a fractured clavicle. Another was used to test a new method in repairing a rotator cuff tear.

Medical professionals and students benefit from human tissue which allows them to develop and practice their skills as technology and practices continue to grow and change. Whole-body donation differs from organ donation as it involves using body parts for the additional purpose of medical and education training, although it is possible to be both a transplant donor and a whole-body donor.

Murphy's multiple donations not only impacted science but also had a personal impact. Tina Singer, a retired psychologist who lived right outside Edmond, Oklahoma, had radial keratotomy surgery 40 years ago but ran into some complications, which gradually eroded her peripheral vision, depth and color perception. With Murphy's self-less donation, he's given Tina Singer another chance of sight. 

Source: United Tissue Network