‘Transplant for Toys’ debuts in Japan, boosts awareness on organ donorship

Second Life Toys, a Japanese charitable organization, is experimenting a unique way to raise awareness about organ donorship, a health issue affecting Japanese patients for years.

As a result, the organization inaugurated a “Transplant for Toys” initiative  – damaged stuffed toys with missing body parts will be supplied with parts from other stuffed toy donations.

For instance, a preloved stuffed animal who lost a leg can have a replacement from another stuffed animal with a long tail or a spare leg. The ‘donor’ plushie will breathe new life and hope to the ‘recipient’ plushie who has now complete body parts. In this way, both toys are ‘alive’ again.

As a delightful ‘thank you’ treat, the owner of the ‘recipient’ stuffed toy would write the donor a letter as a way of gratitude.

This is a buoyant way to encourage Japanese people to enlighten their minds on organ donations. According to news site Rocket News, a skimpy 300 of the 14,000 people receive the replacement organs they need, and the rest either die or seek an alternative way to cure their illnesses.

As the number of children pleading for replacement organs in Japan rises, Second Life Toys conceptualized a cogent yet endearing way for children and their parents to comprehend the value of organ donorship. Gianna Francesca Catolico