# Elton John as an Organ donor ! Yikes **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 5, 2013, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elton-john-as-an-organ-donor-yikes/673172 "2013-11-05T19:42:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Iamnotivan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Iamnotivan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iamnotivan)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elton-john-as-an-organ-donor-yikes/673172/1 "2013-11-05T19:42:03Z")
Did anyone else see that headline? I thought him a little long in the tooth for that sort of thing - anyway, how desperate would one have to be to want his “organs.” Turns out, he donated a pipe organ to local church. Great relief all around. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elton-john-as-an-organ-donor-yikes/673172/2 "2013-11-05T20:03:09Z")
He’s donated the same pipe organ many times. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elton-john-as-an-organ-donor-yikes/673172/3 "2013-11-05T20:15:30Z")
I dunno, I’d take a kidney. If it’s survived all the abuse that a rock star can give it, filtering my blood would be a comparative cakewalk. ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elton-john-as-an-organ-donor-yikes/673172/4 "2013-11-05T20:16:23Z")
No doubt. I’m on the waiting list for Keith Richards’ liver. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elton-john-as-an-organ-donor-yikes/673172/5 "2013-11-05T20:18:56Z")
I’m wondering why the OP has the word organs in quotation marks. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elton-john-as-an-organ-donor-yikes/673172/6 "2013-11-05T20:26:37Z")
They’re really pianos? ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elton-john-as-an-organ-donor-yikes/673172/7 "2013-11-05T20:44:36Z")
Elton John is not dead. Just so we’re clear. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elton-john-as-an-organ-donor-yikes/673172/8 "2013-11-05T20:53:02Z")
> [@Merneith](#): > > Elton John is not dead. Just so we’re clear. Yes, but he’s the Abe Vigoda of rock stars. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2013, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elton-john-as-an-organ-donor-yikes/673172/9 "2013-11-06T01:24:46Z")
> [@Iamnotivan](#): > > Did anyone else see that headline? I thought him a little long in the tooth for that sort of thing - anyway, how desperate would one have to be to want his “organs.” One would have to be extremely desperate to want ANYONE’s organs. I daresay they’d be immensely grateful that someone voluntarily gave up one of their healthy organs in order to prolong their life, even if it was an aging, gay, former-drug abusing rock star. Beggars can’t be choosers and all that. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2013, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elton-john-as-an-organ-donor-yikes/673172/10 "2013-11-06T03:50:10Z")
Will I be able to play the piano after the operation? ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2013, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elton-john-as-an-organ-donor-yikes/673172/11 "2013-11-06T05:39:30Z")
Similarly, I was glad to read that Elton John had merely donated a church bell to the local parish after seeing the headline announcing that Elton John had publically given a huge hard dong to a church pastor in the town square, to much applause from onlooking citizens. ---
**Author:** ![MissTake](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misstake/32/3189_2.png) [@MissTake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissTake)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2013, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elton-john-as-an-organ-donor-yikes/673172/12 "2013-11-06T13:05:02Z")
> [@PunditLisa](#): > > One would have to be extremely desperate to want ANYONE’s organs. I daresay they’d be immensely grateful that someone voluntarily gave up one of their healthy organs in order to prolong their life, even if it was an aging, gay, former-drug abusing rock star. Beggars can’t be choosers and all that. As someone waiting for a kidney, this. I don’t care who it comes from, as long as the doctors have deemed it good for transplant. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2013, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elton-john-as-an-organ-donor-yikes/673172/13 "2013-11-06T15:29:02Z")
His corneas are probably in good shape, what with all the sunglasses. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2013, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elton-john-as-an-organ-donor-yikes/673172/14 "2013-11-06T15:31:56Z")
I’ll take his hair. He paid a butt load for that hair and I’d hate to see it go to waste. You just know it’s top grade. ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2013, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elton-john-as-an-organ-donor-yikes/673172/15 "2013-11-06T19:57:01Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > Will I be able to play the piano after the operation? OK, I’ll be the one. Could you play it before the operation? ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2013, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elton-john-as-an-organ-donor-yikes/673172/16 "2013-11-06T20:31:13Z")
It’s a little bit funny, This feeling inside… My organs will have a new home, After I’ve died. Anyway, the thing is, What I really mean, Yours is the body where I’ll send my spleen. ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2013, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elton-john-as-an-organ-donor-yikes/673172/17 "2013-11-08T01:12:04Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > Yes, but he’s the Abe Vigoda of rock stars. As it happens, [Abe Vigoda’s the Abe Vigoda of rock stars](http://www.uproxx.com/tv/2013/11/heres-photo-92-year-old-abe-vigoda-dressed-wombat-phish-show/). ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2013, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elton-john-as-an-organ-donor-yikes/673172/18 "2013-11-08T15:04:06Z")
My 78 year old mother died a few months ago, and to my utter surprise she is going to be an organ donor! (Not surprised she would have indicated this on her driver’s license, jus surprised they would want anything of her elderly, not-in-great-health body). It turns out that, according to the nice lady who called me to talk about it, that the skin of elderly people is actually very good for transplant onto burn victims. Because it doesn’t have as much collagen, it’s not as elastic and won’t “snap back” - it will stay where it’s put. It takes forever to decide whether the skin is safe or not - I was told (after I indicated that yes, I would like to know any outcomes) that there would be numerous tests conducted for various conditions and diseases. I also had to spend about 20 minutes on the phone answering lifestyle questions like how many sex partners my widowed old mom had had in the last year. Anyway, I don’t know if my mother’s skin was/will be used or not. But she’d be so happy if that works out. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2013, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elton-john-as-an-organ-donor-yikes/673172/19 "2013-11-08T15:15:16Z")
Twenty posts about about something nice & charitable that he did, and all we can see is that he isn’t young, and that he isn’t straight? But, yes, ftr I’m rather happy for him that he isn’t dead. If he was to ever read this thread, I hope he’d smile & think, “Well, for that matter, so am I.” ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2013, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/elton-john-as-an-organ-donor-yikes/673172/20 "2013-11-08T16:23:12Z")
While we typically think of organs for donation coming from someone who’s passed away, I can think of three live donations off the top of my head - kidney, lung and liver lobe. Were a person waiting for a transplant to be approached by Sir Elton to give them a kidney/lung/lobe, do you think they’d ask him about his sexual history or just be thrilled? I believe \*\*MissTake \*\*has answered that soundly.