Saving Lives
Posted on July 29th, 2005 by ECS
Awhile ago, my husband signed up to participate in a program run by a local cancer treatment center that matches up potential bone marrow donors with recipients.
The cancer center called a few days ago, and told my husband that his bone marrow matched with one of their patients in need of a transplant.
Extracting the bone marrow from my husband isn’t a complicated or particularly dangerous procedure, but he is a healthy person who has never needed hospitals, and he has more than an average aversion to needles. It can take a long needle to get out bone marrow.
Needless to say, he’s going to the hospital on Monday and will presumably undergo this procedure (he doesn’t like refering to it as “surgery”) to extract his bone marrow to save a stranger’s life.
So, what would you do to save a stranger’s life? And, more importantly, do we have an obligation (religious or otherwise) to save a stranger’s life if it is as “easy” as giving blood?
If you’re interested, check out this link for more information about donating bone marrow: http://www.marrow.org/
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12 Responses to “Saving Lives”
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Interesting question, and one that raises a familiar problem for me. I like to think that pre-marriage and kids, I would have done almost anything to save someone else’s life. Now, it’s a much more complicated dilemma, given that I am not my own. Still, I think the Christian duty is to do everything in our power to alleviate the suffering of others. So we need to go as far as we can without causing too much suffering on the part of anyone else (as in our kids and spouse).
Yeah, I don’t like the idea of him doing this, but if it means that he could save someone’s life, it seems selfish not to. But where do we draw the line? Do we feel obligated to help out if our neighbor needs a kidney?
I read a very interesting article in the New Yorker about a successful businessman who gave away almost all of his wealth and finally donated his kidney (against the wishes of his wife) to a complete stranger from a poor neighborhood. According to the article, you really only need one kidney and if you have a disease, it will generally destroy both of your kidneys anyway. It really made me wonder if everyone was free with their kidneys, maybe no one would ever go without.
I admit that I am scared of the prospect of a medical procedure to help a stranger. (Sometimes they don’t need the marrow, they just need to filter stem cells out of your blood, but a neck or chest catheter sounds painful, too.)
I think we should do a lot regarding food, clothing, and shelter.
I have reservations where medical care is involved in general. I’m not of the opinion that all advances in prolonging life are beneficial for society. That’s a whole other issue.
I think an individual can decide whatever they want to help someone else out. It is important to take into account how it will impact their family. What I am not in favor of is people having kids to supply body parts for their other kids. Thank God that is rare.
Medically, I don’t have a body that sustains well when giving up stuff. I usually get sick after donating blood.
On the issue of helping medically, should there be caveats? I know that charity sees the need not the cause but I have a hard time seeing how an alcoholic should get a liver when someone else who didn’t abuse their body is in need of one. That’s a tough one to rectify.
The Law and Order Criminal Intent rerun this week asked exactly this question. The suspect felt he had a moral obligation to donate body parts and felt that not doing so was murder. As I mentioned on the Kite Runner thread, I consume crap.
Hey, Ned - I read that New Yorker article too. Wasn’t it a bit creepy? But I did like the fact that this guy was completely committed to helping/saving others by giving all of his money away - however, he definitely took it a bit too far when he started giving away body parts.
I think I’d be okay donating blood, bone marrow, etc. as long as it’s useful to someone (and isn’t terribly painful). I’m fascinated by all the amazing innovations in biotech these days - you really can do a lot of good for people.
Anyway, did Maude survive her bar exams? Hope you guys are doing something fun this weekend to celebrate!
I always had my organ donor thing filled out on my driver’s license. Then I became diabetic. Oh, the irony.
I can’t even give blood now.
I’ll probably need a kidney eventually. Anyone want to hand one over?
I used to be very good at donating blood. Then I discovered apheresis (platelet donation) and I became good at that instead. Then people started to worry about Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD), “Mad Cow Disease”, and I became ineligible because I lived in the wrong parts of Europe for too long.
*sigh*
Now I’m stuck thinking ‘I would if I could’ everytime the sign up sheet for the blood drive goes around the Elders Quorum.
Elisabeth–
I definitely thought the guy was a little extreme (which is why they based that L&O on him) but he also seemed inspiring. He was doing what I can’t even fathom: giving away almost everything he had to the poor, down to his body parts. I can’t think of a better example of Christ-like love.
Thanks for asking about Maude. She thinks she failed, naturally, but I’m sure she did fine. We should be going out for a little celebration tonight.
That’s cool that he’s doing that. I wish him luck, and I hope it works out well for the recipient. I tried to sign up to be a bone marrow donor a few years ago, but they wouldn’t take me. However, I can still give blood, so I try to do that regularly.
I also have the organ donor thing marked yes on my drivers license and my parents know I’d like to be a donor (after all, if I’m dead, I don’t need them anymore, so why not?).
I have thought about what I would do if a member of my family needed a kidney and I was a match. Assuming both of my kidneys were healthy, I believe I would be a willing donor. However, I don’t know if I would be as willing for a stranger. It would be something that would require a lot of thought and prayer if it ever came up, but I don’t totally dismiss the idea.
What a wonderful opportunity for your husband! I donated bone marrow to my brother, and it was one of the most important things I’ve ever done, for it allowed my 6-year-old brother to live 11 years longer. (Eleven good years, I might add.) I completely understand his nervousness about the whole affair, but I hope he also feels that he is doing something truly important.
Good for him! I think it’s wonderful. It is something absolutely selfless and the impact to others’ lives will be immeasurable. Awesome.
I have been meaning to get on the donor list for the past 5 years. I am really inspired now! It was great to meet you both. I wish I would have read this before I met you, I would have loved to chat with you about it in person. Best of luck!