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The Keep:Ghost Ship

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NPC Daniel Tavern Keeper This page contains one or more outdated guild links.

Guilds and the Tavern were removed from Habitica on August 8, 2023. If you know the status of the guild(s) mentioned in this page, please update their links and remove the template {{Contains outdated guild links}} from this page. Thank you!

Npc bailey Note: This page is in The Keep and is not part of the main wiki.

Pages in The Keep are usually unofficial, personal, and/or administrative pages. They may not be up-to-date or actively maintained, but generally do not need to be edited by unaffiliated users.

The Keep: Index > The Armory > Ghost Ship


Under contruction icon-yellow Note this article is still under construction. A ghost ship should probably be decaying slowly, or at least remain eerily unchanged, instead of still being constructed, but nevertheless, this article is still under construction

It may not function as expected. Check the discussion for info about its current state.
See Category:Underconstruction for other incomplete templates.


This wiki guild page for the guild Ghost Ship is still very much under construction! The first few subsections - the upper decks, if you will - are (finally!) rather shipshape and contain a lot of useful information. Some subsections further down (currently starting at "Advance Healthcare Directives") are still huge gaping holes in this ship's hull that should have been filled with content years ago. The bilge, uh, bottom, is also a real mess. (Don't go there! Unknown evil things may be lurking in those murky depths!) The guild leader is currently working on this page almost daily (a little bit each time), but right now, it's nowhere near finished yet. (It is only fitting for a ghost ship that this page haunts her in her nightmares.)  Hopefully, some time in the future, each of this page's subsections will contain well-structured, informative content with correct links and an aesthetically pleasing layout complete with pictures. (One can dream, right?)

Direct Link to the Guild[]

Guild Topics[]

Overview[]

The guild is about:

  • organ donation
  • blood donation and stem cell donation
  • body donation to medical research and education
  • making an advance health care directive ("living will")
  • making a will or living trust
  • life insurance
  • preparations for one’s own funeral/obituary

and any other topics that are either death-related or have something to do with the donation of organs, blood, bone marrow, and other parts of ones own body while still alive.

Organ Donation[]

This chapter is mainly about making one's organs available for transplantation after death. But if you consider donating an organ or tissue while still alive, that is very brave and altruistic of you, and information about that can probably be found on the same websites where you can register for becoming an organ donor after death.

Organ Donation Challenges[]

The guild has two challenges about organ donation. (The challenges are about becoming a registered organ donor so your organs can be donated after your death. But if you have donated an organ while still alive, you definitely qualify for the challenges, too!)

  • Get Disemboweled! - Organ Donation for Pirates (a permanent challenge, a step-by-step guide how to become an organ donor)
  • ♡ I am an organ donor! ♡ (There are usually several identical challenges with that name. Every organ donor can look for an empty one, join it, click the To Do, and will then be declared winner. People win them all the time, and Cantras creates new copies regularly. That is why there is no link to one of the "♡ I am an organ donor! ♡" challenges here - it would be outdated a few days later.)
    In short, these challenges are using the "challenge clones" method for declaring multiple winners.

In addition, there is also a permanent guildless public challenge Become an Organ Donor! (Or get a trophy for already being one!) that serves as a "pointer challenge", that is, it asks people to look into the Ghost Ship guild and participate in the guild challenges there. (The "trophy" referred to in the challenge name is the entry "♡ I am an organ donor! ♡" in your "Challenges Won" list.) All these challenges are run by Cantras. Both the permanent "Get Disemboweled! - Organ Donation for Pirates" challenge and the many "♡ I am an organ donor! ♡" challenges have been running since 2014.

Organ Donation Links[]

Becoming an organ donor is often much easier and quicker than people think. In many countries, the registration process can be done online. In countries where you need to carry an organ donor card, you can sometimes download and print it yourself. And in countries where registration for organ donorship can't be done online, there is usually at least an official website with lots of information about how to do it.

So, your first step is usually to go to your country's official organ donation website. You can probably find it easily by ecosing (or googling) "organ donor" or "organ donation" in your language (and possibly the name of your country if your language is spoken elsewhere, too). Here is a short list of some of these websites:

(Disclaimer: There are no guarantees about the link list below. Those might not be the only websites for those countries, or the links might be outdated.)

If you'd like to add or update a link, feel free to edit this wiki page yourself, and/or notify the "Ghost Ship" guild leader, or just mention it in guild chat. (Many thanks to everyone who already added a new link!)

Organ Donation Details[]

The laws and regulations for organ donation differ from county to country. Your country's official organ donation website probably has lots of information about the details for your country. You can also find more information about organ donation in Wikipedia.

Some examples about important details:

  • Many countries are "opt-in" (you are only an organ donor if you explicitly give your consent), some countries are "opt-out" (you are automatically an organ donor unless you explicitly refuse). Most "opt-in" countries have drastically lower donor rates than "opt-out" countries and suffer from a severe lack of organ donors. (Some statistics, analysis and studies regarding these differences can be found in the scientific paper Johnson, Eric J.; and Goldstein, Daniel G. "Do defaults save lives?" (PDF). This paper is also quoted and summed up in the New York Times article "Opting in vs. Opting Out".)
  • Many "opt-in" countries require a form of registration to become an organ donor. (Some countries even have several different registries. For example, the US has state registries and a national registry, as described on Donate Life's "About the National Donate Life Registry" page.) In many such countries, registration can be done online. In some other "opt-in" countries, there is no registry, and it is enough to carry an organ donor card. Some "opt-in" countries have neither a registry nor an official organ donor card, and potential donors need to state their intent to donate in some other way (for example, in an advance healthcare directive and/or will).
  • In some "opt-in" countries, when people get their driver's license, they are also asked whether they consent to becoming an organ donor. In most such countries, one's organ donor status is shown on the driver's license. But there are usually also other ways to become an organ donor. You don't need to have a driver's license to become one, and the decision you made when you got your driver's license can usually be changed later. (Depending on the country, it may or may not be possible after such a change to get a new driver's license that shows your new organ donor status.) In the US, registration when getting your driver's license means you register in your state's organ donor registry. There is also a national organ donor registry (with online registration), and you can register in either or both independently. (When you die, your state's registry and the national registry are checked, and if you are in both, the data of the more recent entry are used.) Because a lot of US organ donor registrations come from people getting their driver's licenses, Donate Life America celebrates National DMV Appreciation Week (or Month) every year.
  • If you die suddenly, it is important that your organ donor status can be ascertained as quickly as possible. The following things can help:
    • An organ donor card should best be carried in the window part of your wallet or a similar place where it will be found quickly in an emergency.
    • In countries where you can download organ donor cards and print them out yourself, you could also print out (and fill out and sign) several, put them in various places where people are likely to find them, and give one (or more) to your next of kin.
    • Even in countries where registration is enough to become an organ donor, and carrying a card is optional, a card that is found quickly can speed up the donation process when you die. Even some "opt-out" countries (for example, France) encourage citizens to carry an organ donor card for various practical reasons.
    • If you live in a country where your organ donor status is shown on your driver's license, the same applies to your driver's license.
    • If your country has neither official organ donor cards nor driver's licenses that show organ donor status (or you don't have a driver's license), you can write your own donor-card-like note and put it in your wallet. It should contain the usual information that can be found on most official organ donor cards, and your signature and date of signature. (Good examples to model your card after would be the organ donor card of the Mohan Foundation or the translations of the German organ donor card in over 25 languages.) This may not be legally binding but it can help doctors and next of kin to find out faster what you wanted, and to even consider you as a donor.
    • Most mobiles have an option to show some information - particularly health-related information - on the screen even when logged out (so medics can access it). This can include organ donor status. This option is either already part of the mobile's settings, or an app can be used for this purpose.
  • Countries have different laws and common practices regarding whether your next of kin will be asked and can override your decision to be an organ donor. So it is usually a good idea to talk to your next of kin about your wishes, and in some countries it is necessary because they will be asked and the organ donation will not take place if they object. (And even in countries where your next of kin are not asked, it is usually easier for them if they know about it in advance.) In some countries, informing your next of kin (and hoping they will respect your wishes) is actually the only way to become an organ donor (for example in New Zealand, especially if you don't have a driver's license, as also described on the GiveLife.org.nz website).
  • Countries have different minimum ages at which you can give your consent to become an organ donor. If someone dies at a younger age, usually the parents get to decide whether their kid's organs should be donated or not. (So, if you are under the minimum age, you can still tell your wishes to your parents. If anything lethal happens to you, knowing what you wanted will probably help them decide.)
  • In most countries, there is no upper age limit to being an organ donor. Even very old people and people with severe health issues can still have some transplantable organs and/or tissues. And often the recipients are old people, too, or have similar health issues. If you are very old and/or have severe health issues, it is better to be a registered organ donor and let the doctors find out after your death whether your organs and tissues can be transplanted, than not to be a registered organ donor and still have one or two organs that could have saved or improved someone else's life.
    • In some organ donor registries, you can add information about relevant health issues. Similarly, on some organ donor cards, there is room for notes about relevant health issues. (But the transplant team will not rely on that alone and will still do a clinical evaluation at the time of your death.)
    • The oldest known organ donor was 107 years old (corneas), the oldest know donor of an internal organ was 92 years old (liver). (Source: Wikipedia, on Jan 13, 2022.)
    • HIV-positive people have been donating organs to other HIV-positive people.
    • Former cancer patients may still be able to donate some organs: Almost anyone except those with certain blood or eye cancers can donate corneas. Donation of other organs depends on how long the donor was cancer-free, the type of cancer, and some other factors.
    • People who took medication, smoked, drank, took legal or illegal drugs, may still be able to donate some organs. (The criteria are different than for blood donation!)
  • If you have an organ donor registration and an advance healthcare directive ("living will"), in some countries, care must be taken that there is no conflict between the two. (Organ donorship may require some life-prolonging machines to be switched on a little longer until the organs are removed. If your advance healthcare directive states that all such machines should be switched off immediately, this may conflict with organ donation.) Some countries have laws giving priority to your wish to be an organ donor. In others, it is the other way round, and you have to take care yourself that your advance healthcare directive is written properly to avoid such a conflict. For details, see your country's official organ donation website, your country's websites about advance healthcare directives, and this page's chapter on advance healthcare directives ("living wills"). 
  • If you are an organ donor and want to donate your body to medical research and education after death, that may sometimes (but not always) lead to conflicts as well. For more information, please see the chapter on body donation.
  • Organ donation usually does not mean that your funeral is automatically being paid for and taken care of (though there may be countries where there are such benefits). A good way to get a free or cheap funeral can be body donation to medical or forensic research and education (though even then, this isn't always the case). For more information, please see the chapter on body donation.
  • Some countries have a "Don't give, don't get" policy: Of several patients with the same medical need for an organ transplant, the ones who are registered organ donors will be given priority. (Examples: Israel, Chile.)

Blood Donation[]

This topic includes most types of blood donation (i.e., donation of whole blood, red blood cells, blood plasma, platelets, etc.). For peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) donation, also see the Stem Cell and Bone Marrow Donation subsection.

Blood Donation Challenges[]

The guild currently contains only one sort of blood donation challenges:

  • ❤ I donated blood! I saved lives ❤ (There are usually several identical challenges with that name. Every blood donor can look for an empty one, join it, click the To Do, and will then be declared winner. People win them all the time, and challenge owner Acorn_Sprout creates new copies regularly. That is why there is no link to one of the "❤ I donated blood! I saved lives ❤" challenges here - it would be outdated a few days later.)
    In short, these challenges are using the "challenge clones" method for declaring multiple winners.
    Everyone who donated blood or any part of blood (red blood cells, plasma, platelets, blood stem cells, ...) qualifies as a winner.
    The "❤ I donated blood! I saved lives ❤" challenges have been running since March 2020.

Blood Donation Links[]

Blood Donation Details[]

  • Common blood donation methods are whole blood donation and various forms of apheresis. In apheresis, only part of the blood is filtered out and donated, the rest is returned into the donor. Common forms of apheresis in blood donation are:
    • Plasmapheresis (for donating blood plasma).
    • Plateletpheresis (for donating platelets, also called thrombocytes).
    • Combinations of Plasmapheresis and Plateletpheresis (so the donor donates plasma and platelets at the same time).
    • Erythrocytapheresis (for donating red blood cells, also called erythrocytes). This form of donation is sometimes referred to as "double reds", "double red cell apheresis", or "power red" because the donor often donates twice as many red blood cells per donation as with whole blood donation.
  • The amount of blood usually given in one whole blood donation varies from 200 ml to 550 ml depending on the country, but 450–500 ml is typical. A "unit of blood" usually means around 450 ml. "Units" of plasma, platelets, and red blood cells are different (and less).
  • Different countries have different rules about how long you have to wait between donations. This minimum time between donations is also very different for the different methods of blood donation:
    • Erythrocytapheresis ("double reds"/"power red"/"double red cell apheresis") usually has the longest waiting time (112 days in the US).
    • Whole blood donation usually has a waiting time of around two months (56 days in the US).
    • Platelet and plasma donation usually have much shorter waiting times (7 days for platelets and 3.5 days for plasma in the US). If more than one unit of platelets or plasma is collected at the same time, the waiting time can be longer. (For example, see AB Elite Plasma Donation in the US.)
    Some blood donation agencies offer to send reminders to previous donors when they will be eligible for donation again.
  • Blood donation is a good occasion to find out your blood type (if you don't know it already). Blood is classified according to several blood group systems. The best known of those are the ABO blood group system and the Rh blood group system, but there are several more. People with all blood types can donate. Donors of some blood types are more sought after, either because their blood can safely be given to recipients with many different blood types, or because some patients with a rare blood type can only receive blood from donors with the same rare blood type. Blood types that are particularly good for whole blood donation and red blood cell donation are usually particularly bad for plasma donation, and vice versa: Blood type O- is best for whole blood and red blood cell donation, blood type AB+ is best for plasma donation. (For platelet donation, the blood type is rather unimportant.) Other important blood types are Duffy and hh ("Bombay phenotype"): There are often shortages of Duffy-negative donors (most common in people of African descent) and donors with the (very rare) Bombay phenotype.
  • Several questions about the donor's health will usually be asked. Eligibility criteria are slightly different in different countries. There can also be slight differences depending on what you donate (whole blood, red blood cells, plasma or platelets). But eligibility checks usually include questions about:
    • Your current state of health. The rules of most countries state that you should be in good general health, not pregnant, have a certain minimum weight, and have no infectious diseases. Some chronic medical conditions make you ineligible. For some others, there are requirements. (For example, if you are diabetic, your blood sugar must be well controlled.)
    • Medications that you are currently taking or have taken in the past. (This also includes recent vaccinations.) Some medications (but not all) make you ineligible for blood donation. Most of those have waiting times (starting from the last time you took the medication) ranging from days to years. Very few medications make you permanently ineligible if you have ever taken them.
      For example, this is the US medication deferral list. Your country may have different rules.
      Similar rules apply for legal and illegal drugs. Whether your country has laws about it or not, you should try not to drink alcohol or smoke 24 hours before donation.
    • Previous (or current) transmittable incurable or hard-to-cure diseases (malaria, some forms of hepatitis, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, HIV, some forms of cancer, etc.).
    • Situations with a high risk of contracting such diseases. Examples are recent stays in countries with high risk of malaria, long stays in countries which had, at the time of your stay, a high risk of contracting Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, intravenous injection of non-prescribed drugs, and recent tattoos and piercings. Some of those events and situation may make you permanently ineligible for blood donation in your country. For others, your country may have waiting times or additional requirements.
    Most blood donation agencies have online FAQs (and sometimes interactive online tests) where you can check your eligibility for donating blood beforehand. (For example, see the American Red Cross FAQ about eligibility. But different countries have different criteria.) If you have more questions, contact your local blood donation agency.
  • Most blood donation agencies check your blood pressure, pulse, temperature, and hemoglobin level directly before blood donation. The donated blood is usually tested for blood groups and various infectious diseases (and the donor is usually informed about the results). Some blood donation agencies offer additional health checks.
  • The needle should only hurt a little bit at the moment of insertion. If it hurts a lot more, or if it keeps (or starts) hurting after that, that isn't normal. You should immediately tell the nurse or doctor because the needle might not have been inserted properly or there might be other complications.
  • To minimize side effects and help your body regenerate (and also to provide "high quality" blood), you should do the following:
    • Hydrate yourself well: Drink plenty of water, juice, etc. both before and after donation. Also, as always when you drink a lot of water, make sure to also get enough salt and minerals to keep your electrolyte balance!
    • Eat iron-rich foods (and maybe also take iron supplements) both before and after donation (especially for whole blood or red blood cell donation). Many factors play a role in how well your body absorbs iron. For example, it is often recommended to consume iron together with vitamin C, with water, and on a relatively empty stomach. There are also foods that make iron absorption more difficult for your body. You don't need to avoid these "iron blockers" but it may help not to eat them at the same moment as the iron-rich food or iron supplements. Calcium-rich food (e.g. milk products), coffee, tea, and chocolate are "iron blockers". More advice can, for example, be found on The Vegetarian Society's webpage about iron (which also contains a list of iron-rich vegan/vegetarian foods) and in this "Verywell Health" article.
    • Don't get up too quickly after donation. Symptoms of feeling faint or lightheaded often just go away if you lie down for 5-15 more minutes.
    • Eat a healthy, well balanced meal before donation, but avoid fatty foods for 24 h before donation. (Increased fat in your blood can cause problems with the quality of the donated blood and the screening tests that need to be performed on it.) Also eat a snack after donation. In general, try to eat healthy both in the time before and after donation.
      Often you get free juice and/or a free snack after donating. (If you don't, bring your own if possible!)
    • Try to be well rested.
    For more information about how to prepare and regenerate, see the FAQ of your local blood donation agency. Here are some more links:
  • If you are ineligible for donating blood but want to help anyway, there are usually various forms of volunteering for "blood drives". (Example: The American Red Cross's "Become a Volunteer" page.)
  • World Blood Donor Day is June 14.

Stem Cell and Bone Marrow Donation[]

This topic includes two types of stem cell donation: peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) donation and bone marrow donation.

Stem Cell and Bone Marrow Donation Challenges[]

The guild currently contains one stem cell/bone marrow donation challenge:

Stem Cell and Bone Marrow Donation Links[]

Stem Cell and Bone Marrow Donation Details[]

  • To become a stem cell donor, several steps are necessary:
    • First, you ecose (or google) a local stem cell registry of your choice (for example Be The Match and Gift of Life in the US, or DKMS and ZKRD in Germany) and register there. (The registries cooperate, so your donation will be available for recipients worldwide. But most registries only accept local donors. The World Marrow Donor Association's worldwide list of local registries might help you find one in your country.) At Be The Match, registration works like this: You register online, answer some questions about your health, they send you a test kit consisting basically of a few q-tips, you swab the inside of your mouth with them, and send the test kit back. With other registries, it is usually similar.
    • Then, usually, nothing happens for a long time (often many years or forever) - unless and until someone who matches your HLA type needs a donation. Then the registry will contact you. You will get a lot of information about the donation procedure. You will have the choice to still refuse. Some tests will be done to make sure that you are really a good match for the recipient, and that you are healthy enough. (Less than 1% of all registered donors pass all those matching checks and health checks and donate. It is quite likely that, after registration, you will never be contacted for a donation.)
    • The actual donation will then be done using one of two methods: either (in most cases) peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) donation or (more rarely) bone marrow donation. (The links here are to Be The Match, but you can expect the donation process to be very similar at other registries.)
  • If you are already registered, the following actions may be necessary or helpful:
    • Some bone marrow donor registries may ask you to reaffirm your commitment to donation from time to time. You may have to click a link in your email, or make a phone call. This lets the registry know that you are still willing to donate, and also helps them keep your contact data up to date.
    • If stem cell matching methods have improved a lot since your registration, the registry may send you a new test kit and ask you to send in a new swab so they get more and better data about your HLA type.
  • The donated stem cells are used to treat many life-threatening diseases. You can also find more information about stem cell transplantation in Wikipedia:
  • World Marrow Donor Day is the third Saturday of September (in 2021, September 18th).

Hair Donation[]

While not as life-savingly important as other forms of donation, the topic came up several times in guild chat, and fits in well with the other guild topics.

Hair Donation Links[]

You can find local organizations accepting hair donations by ecosing (or googling) "hair donation" in your language. (Maybe add the name of your country if your language is spoken elsewhere, too). Or you can look for "sell hair", "buy hair", or similar if you want to sell your hair and donate the money yourself. So far, the list here only contains links for very few countries.

Since you are sending in your hair by mail, you can also send it in from other countries.

Hair Donation Details[]

  • Cancer patients aren't the only people without hair. If they recover sufficiently to not need chemotherapy anymore, their hair usually grows back. (In some cases, chemotherapy is given for many years though.) For people with permanent hair loss (for example, alopecia areata patients), the question what to wear on their heads (if anything) is often much more important.
  • The emotional need (or lack of need) for a wig can be very different for different individuals. Some people without hair are perfectly happy with caps, headscarves, etc., or nothing at all if the weather is warm enough, and don't want a wig (not even for free). Others are content with synthetic wigs. Others wouldn't want to miss their real-hair wigs. For cancer patients, the hair question is often the least of their worries. If the person without hair is fit for work, and working or looking for a job, that also plays a role: It might or might not be better for them to wear a wig at work.
  • It is useful for hair donors to know a few things about the hair and wig market:
    • Most wigs are synthetic. They are more affordable and easier to take care of than real hair wigs and can be quite beautiful. Real hair wigs are much more expensive. (Their production is also more work-intensive). Most real hair wigs are made from long black (usually Asian or South American) hair that is bleached and dyed. Wigs made from hair of any other color are even more expensive and can cost 2000 $ or more. (To get an idea about the prices, see "How Much Do Human Hair Wigs Cost?" by wigs.com and also have a look at their online shop.)
    • Most commercially sold hair is long black (usually Asian or South American) hair. Although of high quality and very good for wigmaking, it is relatively cheap because there is more supply. Much higher prices are paid for hair with other natural colors.
    Because of these facts, hair donation is often more effective as a form of fundraising than as a way to directly provide a patient with a wig: Selling light hair for a lot of money, buying a less expensive wig for a patient who can't otherwise afford one, and donating the rest of the money to a cancer aid or cancer research organization or another good cause (or even donating all the money to said good cause) can often do more good than making and donating a wig directly. Therefore, a lot of hair donation organizations (but not all) work this way.
  • Various hair donation organizations have different methods of letting alopecia and cancer patients and/or other people without hair benefit from the donations. Basically, there are four methods to donate hair for the benefit of others:
    • You could donate your hair to an organizations that actually makes wigs and gives them to patients directly. (One of those would be Verein Haarfee.)
    • Or you could donate your hair to one of the organizations which sell the hair to wigmakers and donate the profits to a cancer organization (or other good cause) and/or to patients who couldn't otherwise afford a wig. (One of those would be BVZ Rapunzel.)
      Some organizations (for example BVZ Rapunzel) even turn the hair sale into an auction and a fundraising event where wig producers usually pay much more than the hair is actually worth.
    • Another option is to send your hair to a commercial wig producer or hair trader who cooperates with one or several NGOs and donates the price of your hair to them instead of paying it to you. (For example, haare-spenden.de is a German website where you can donate hair to the wig producer Rieswick & Partner Friseur GmbH and choose which one of several NGOs the money should go to. haarankauf.com and echthaarhandel.de, the sites of two German companies that mainly buy hair commercially, also offer hair donation, with the money going to Deutsche Krebshilfe (German Cancer Aid) and Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum (German Cancer Research Center), respectively.)
    • The fourth option is to sell your hair yourself and do with the money whatever you want - for example, donate it to a good cause of your choice. (For example, haarankauf.com and echthaarhandel.de are German companies you can sell your hair to.)
    All these examples are Austrian or German, but they show the many different options available very well. When donating hair in other countries, try to find out which one the organization you are donating to chooses!
  • Often it is possible to turn your haircut into a fundraising event. Some NGOs help donors do that (e.g. Brave the Shave and the Little Princess Trust). That way, you raise more money than your hair's worth, and even if your hair eventually turns out to be too short or of too poor quality for wigmaking, your haircut will not have been in vain.
    As a fun idea to raise more funds, people have even held (online and offline) raffles, auctions, and lotteries beforehand that let money donors participate in the decision about the resulting hairstyle. Some methods were:
    • The hair only comes off if a minimum fundraising goal is reached beforehand.
    • The more money is raised, the shorter the hair.
    • The highest bidder gets to decide the hairstyle.
    • Every money donor can vote for one out of several hairstyles. The hairstyle with most votes gets chosen.
    • Every money donor gets one (or possibly several, depending on the donated amount) "lottery tickets". The random lottery winner gets to decide the hairstyle.
  • Different organizations, wig producers and hair traders have different donation requirements regarding hair quality:
    • Many organizations and producers only accept hair that is no more than 5% grey, even though the hair usually gets dyed when producing the wigs. That is because grey hair doesn't absorb dye at the same rate as other types of hair. However, there are exceptions (especially since many older patients already have naturally grey hair before losing it, and some would prefer a wig of similar color). For example, 360 Hair and Locks of Love accept grey hair.
    • Many organizations and producers don't accept dyed or otherwise processed hair, some do. For example, 360 Hair accepts dyed hair, Locks of Love accepts dyed and permed hair.
    • Minimum length (of the cut hair that you send in) varies. Sometimes 20 cm are enough, sometimes it needs to be longer.
    When in doubt, read the donation requirements thoroughly before you cut your hair, ask, and ecose (or google) for an organization that fits your hair.

Body Donation to Medical or Forensic Research and Education[]

Body donation means that after your death, your body is given to a medical or forensic university or research institute, to be used for education (for example, about anatomy or surgical procedures) or for research.

Body donation should not be confused with organ donation.

Body Donation Links[]

Body Donation Details[]

  • To register for body donation, you usually contact a local medical or forensic institute of your choice that accepts donated bodies. In most countries, there is no nationwide registration process for body donation. In some countries, there are (governmental or non-governmental) organizations that help you find your nearest institute. (Example: UK: "Find a medical school" page of Human Tissue Authority.) In other countries, you will need to find the nearest institutes yourself - usually simply by ecosing (or googling) them.
  • Terms and conditions of the individual institutes vary very much. It is therefore important to "read the small print" and check the terms and conditions of the institute in question. This applies to all the details discussed below.
  • Some countries have too few body donors. But since body donation is often a good way to get a free or cheap funeral, a few countries have more people trying to donate their body than need for donated bodies. Medical institutes may therefore be "picky" and only accept those registrations that best suit the purpose. (For example, donors may need to live nearby and fulfill certain health and age criteria.) Many institutes also charge fees (payable at registration and/or after death) for transportation, cremation, funeral, etc. But these fees are usually lower than the normal cost of these things.
  • Medical institutes may reject your registration. For example, they may only accept registrations of potential donors who live within a certain area, have a certain minimum age, etc.
  • Even if a medical institute has accepted your registration, it usually has a right to reject your body after death under certain conditions (for example, if it carries an infectious disease, if it is too badly damaged, or if the death occurs too far away). It is therefore good to have a "backup plan" regarding the funeral. If substantial fees were paid at the time of registration, it is also useful to find out what happens to those if the body gets rejected.
  • Body donation may be (but often isn't) in conflict with organ donation (meaning, in some cases, you can only register for either one or the other). Some institutes resolve this conflict by always giving organ donation preference if it is medically possible. But if organs are being removed for transplantation, sometimes the medical institute doesn't accept the body afterwards. If allowed, it is usually still useful to register for both organ donation and body donation because very often (depending on how and where death occurs) organ donation isn't medically possible but body donation still is.
  • Forensic research institutes often have a little less restrictive criteria for accepting a body than medical institutes. (For example, many forensic research institutes will still accept bodies after organ removal, autopsies, or amputations, while some medical institutes will not.)
  • In many countries, body donation is only possible if you register yourself while still alive. In others, your next of kin can donate your body if you expressed that wish in some legally valid form (for example, in your will) while alive. In a few other countries, your next of kin can donate your body even without that. In some countries, your next of kin can override your decision to donate your body, in others, they can't. In any case, your next of kin will often be the ones who need to inform the medical institute of your death quickly to make body donation possible.
  • It can't usually be taken for granted that the medical institute will a) be informed of your death automatically and in time and will b) take care of transportation of the body for free (or at all). It is usually necessary to find out how this process is handled by the institute in question and what your next of kin are expected to do (and if and how much they need to pay for transport or other services), and to pre-plan accordingly.
  • The medical or forensic institute often takes care of the cremation and/or the funeral. Some institutes (either always or optionally if desired) give the cremated ashes or the body back to the family for burial, other institutes don't. There may be a long time between death and the cremation and/or burial (usually up to 3 years). Because of that, some families choose to have a private memorial service in absence of the body shortly after the death. Some institutes have one annual memorial ceremony for all body donors (which may or may not also include the actual burials). It is usually necessary to find out how the institute in question handles these funeral-related things (and if and how much your next of kin still need to pay for them), and to pre-plan accordingly.
  • A best-selling non-fiction book that has been recommended several times in chat in connection with the topic is "Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers" by Mary Roach. (You can read parts of it on its own website, on Google Books (e-book, print edition) and on Amazon.)

Participating in Clinical Trials[]

This topic is related to "donating one's body to science" - only this time before death.

There isn't much information here. But since for most clinical trials, usually your doctor will approach you and ask if you wish to participate (because you have a health condition required for the trial), your doctor will also provide you with the necessary information.

Participating in Clinical Trials Links[]

Participating in Clinical Trials Details[]

  • If you already have a specific disease or medical condition, you may get asked by your doctor if you want to participate in a clinical trial. Some clinical trials (according to Wikipedia, usually "Phase 0 and Phase I drug trials") also seek healthy volunteers.
  • Purely anecdotal testimonial by a guild member (used here with said guild member's permission):
"When I had breast cancer, I was asked to participate in a clinical trial researching whether some complementary medical treatments might alleviate the side effects of chemotherapy or not. I was in the control group (so I didn't receive any additional medical treatments other than the usual ones). For me, the whole trial consisted only of paperwork: Filling out lots of questionnaires about how I felt (mainly evaluating feelings of nausea, pain, fatigue, etc., on a scale of zero to ten - every day for the first few days after each chemotherapy session, and every week in between) and keeping a diary about which other complementary medical treatments (for example, vitamin supplements and medical herbal teas) I used. There were even questionnaires which my next of kin had to fill out. It was a rather "harmless" trial involving no new drugs or life-saving groundbreaking research. But the results might still be useful for making patients feel a little bit more comfortable during chemotherapy - or for dispelling myths about things that don't help."

Advance Healthcare Directives ("Living Wills")[]

[This is still completely incomplete. More links and info will follow.]

Advance Healthcare Directives ("Living Wills") Links[]

Advance Healthcare Directives ("Living Wills") Details[]

[Section header is only a placeholder so far, section text is still to be filled in.]

Wills and Living Trusts[]

[Section header is only a placeholder so far, section text is still to be filled in.]

Life Insurance[]

[Section header is only a placeholder so far, section text is still to be filled in.]

Preparations for One's Own Funeral and Obituary[]

Preparations for One's Own Funeral and Obituary Links[]

[This is still completely incomplete. More links and info will follow.]

  • US Mortician Caitlin Doughty' YouTube channel "Caitlin Doughty - Ask A Mortician" and website "The Order of the Good Death" (including a podcast) contain info about funeral planning in general, eco-friendly funeral options, trans/non-binary funeral planning (ensuring that one's preferred name, pronouns, photo, etc. get used for funeral, obituary, gravestone, etc.), and many more topics.

Preparations for One's Own Funeral and Obituary Details[]

[This is still completely incomplete. More links and info will follow.]

  • On the topic of obituary pictures, we had this post in chat:
"Here's a death-related thing that is not organ related, if that's alright: Take a few good pictures of yourself. Keep them somewhere people will find them, and keep them updated. I work for newspapers -- about once a week we run an obituary where the person is making duckface or other ridiculous expression, or the picture is so small/low-res that it's displayed with a "decorative" black border around it because we can't blow it up any further, or any of a number of things that will make you cringe when you look down/up at it from [wherever you will be post-mortem]. "Don't you have any better pictures of me than that???" you'll say, but it will be too late, the obit will already be printed, and your family and friends will cut them out and remember you as a blurry duckface with an embarrassing haircut for the rest of their lives. (Optionally, write your own obit -- but if you find that too morbid or gauche, at least make the picture easy on them.)"

Miscellaneous, Summaries, Checklists[]

Miscellaneous, Summaries, Checklists Links[]

[This is still completely incomplete. More links and info will follow.]

Miscellaneous, Summaries, Checklists Details[]

[Section header is only a placeholder so far, section text is still to be filled in.]

Other Guild Data[]

Guild Name[]

The guild name Ghost Ship has mostly historic reasons. The guild leader hopes the ghost ship theme isn’t too tactless in connection with the guild's topics but, rather, raises people’s spirits enough to fearlessly look death in the eye and prepare for it!

Guild Summary[]

The current guild summary is:

Be a blood donor or organ donor (after death or live) and win a challenge!
Topics:
1. Donating organs, blood, stem cells, etc., body donation to medical research and education, etc.
2. Death preparations (advance healthcare directive, will, etc.).

Guild Description[]

The current guild description is:

Topics:
  • Becoming an organ donor (consenting to donation after death, or even donating while still alive).
  • Donating blood, stem cells, etc. (even hair for a good cause).
  • Death preparations (making an advance healthcare directive, making a will, body donation to medical research and education, funeral arrangements, etc.).
Challenges:
  • The guild usually contains several identical "♡ I am an organ donor! ♡" challenges and 💗 I donated blood! I saved lives 💗 challenges (so every blood/organ donor can win one). In the browser, please scroll down to find an empty challenge to join. In the app, you can try these links but they may be outdated or the challenge may already be "occupied":
    • "♡ I am an organ donor! ♡" links 1, 2, 3, ...
    • 💗 I donated blood! I saved lives 💗 links 1, 2, 3, ...
  • We also have two permanent step-by-step challenges about how to:
  • There is also a challenge for creating an advance healthcare directive ("living will").
  • We could always use more challenges - especially step-by-step guide challenges with lots of useful links! If you have enough knowledge about any of these topics, please feel free to create one!
More Info:
  • The guild has its own wiki page (which, sadly, is still very much under construction, but contains some helpful links).
Guild Name, Guild History, Guild Logo:
  • The guild name has mostly historic reasons: Back in 2014, this guild was found adrift with zero members (which wouldn't be technically possible today). So some early Habitican pirates boarded it and renamed it "Ghost Ship". The idea of death-related topics suggested itself - and one of the pirates had wanted to create a "Become an Organ Donor!" challenge anyway. The topics of donating blood, stem cells, or even an organ while still alive were also added (because they are so closely related to the topic of after-death organ donation).
  • We are using several different guild logos, and change them occasionally. Suggestions for more logo images are always welcome! The images must be your own art or pictures in the public domain or with a license that allows commercial use.
So, please feel welcome to haunt this ship!
Credits & Thanks:
Big, big thanks (it's a lot of work!) to:
Search terms:
organ donation, organ donor, kidney donation, kidney donor, blood donation, blood donor, stem cell donation, stem cell donor, bone marrow donation, bone marrow donor, hair donation, hair donor, wig, volunteering for clinical trials, body donation, body donor, corpse, medical education, medical research, forensic research, death, dying, preparation for death, prepare to die, preparedness, advance healthcare directive, living will, personal directive, advance directive, advance decision, will, testament, intestacy, inheritance, heir, living trust, power of attorney, life insurance, funeral, burial, cremation, obituary, ...

Other Guild Settings[]

  • The guild is public.
  • The guild has the Category tags "Advocacy + Causes" and "Health + Fitness".
  • Every guild member (not just the guild leader) can create challenges in this guild.

[]

The Ghost Ship guild has several logos to choose from, and changes the logo in the guild description every few weeks. Here's a gallery of all that are currently in use.

For more info about the images and their creators, please click on the images and then on the "More Info" link that appears in the upper right corner. (This might not work on mobiles though.)

Suggestions for more logo images are always welcome! The images must be your own art or pictures in the public domain or with a license that allows commercial use (since Habitica counts as commercial).

Guild Logos by George Grie[]

(Sadly, we can't use George Grie's The ninth wave remake or The ninth wave because their licenses allow non-commercial use only.)

Guild Logos by Ива́н Константи́нович Айвазо́вский (Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky)[]

(Via image processing, Mara the Marine Marauder also made a darkened version of the "Shipwreck" painting, but thinks the original is much more beautiful.)

Guild Logos by Other Artists[]

Former Guild Logos[]

Our first guild logo was an early version of Daniel Sinoca's "Ghost Ship". We found it as a "free wallpaper" on a website that no longer exists, and thought it has no copyright, but it has.

Guild Logo Links[]

The following is a list of the URLs used in Habitica to link to the guild logos. (This list makes changing logos easier for the guild leader.)

You can click on the purple button below to show or hide the list.

Guild logo URLs

External websites:

or Habitica wiki files:

Guild Members[]

Guild History[]

Back in 2014, the guild was originally a Hearthstone fandom guild created by a Habitican named jaragon. jaragon left the guild (probably because another Hearthstone fandom guild already existed), and the guild was left with 0 members. (Back then, public guilds didn't get deleted automatically when they had zero members.) The guild contained no challenges and no gems in the guild bank either, and the chat was completely empty as well. Mara the Marine Marauder (@MaraMarineMarauder) was the first to join this empty guild, and automatically became guild leader. (Ony a few minutes later, another Habitican named Tony Whitney joined it, and later found the first guild logo.) The guild was renamed "Ghost Ship" because it had been an "undead guild" adrift without a living soul aboard (and because both Mara the Marine Marauder and Tony Whitney were Habitican pirates looking for guilds to board and plunder, and talking about them as ships). And since Mara the Marine Marauder had been thinking about an organ donation challenge anyway, and since death-related topics went well with the new guild name, the guild topics were chosen as they are now, and the ship set sail on its new course.


The Bilge[]

From here on downwards, the page is a mess!

This should not even be here... I just copied in a few already existing bits of text, so I don't lose them and can work them in where they belong later... Umm, please don't look? (Or look at your own risk!)

Some topic-related links:

About wills (or the lack thereof):

  • willing.com (Helps you to make a valid will - at least within the US - for free.)
  • Intestacy - who inherits if someone dies without a will? (UK-based)
  • Warning: The following two are commercial links. I know nothing about LegalZoom.com, Inc., and I don't want to advertise any commercial services here. But the links came up in guild chat and can at least serve as a starting point to get a feeling for what it looks like when you make your will, living will, power of attorney, etc., with the help of a commercial legal document assistant service.

Other (or covering several topics):

I'll add more when/if I have time.


Informative bits and pieces copied from the guild chat (still totally unsorted):

(These have been moved to invisible comments in this page's source for now. They are still being worked on.)

...

Community content is available under CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted.
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