A piece of you, for peace of life....

Should I do it ?

Yes, you should.

What if he gets killed ?

On the contrary, what if he lives ?

Am I doing the right thing ?

You did it with the pigs, successfully.

They are pigs, this is human.

You’re gifting him a life.

These are some of the questions that the two halves of his mind speak as he gets ready to perform the surgery, the first of its kind. On one side, he is a confident surgeon, sure of his success, and very well aware that his success will create a medical miracle and a path for many to follow. On the other, he battles self doubt. The negatives of ‘what if’ loom large in front of his eyes.

A battle of thoughts and emotions later, he goes ahead and does what his medical ethics ask him to do - to try saving a life if he can.

After nine hours of work involving a team of thirty people , Dr Christiaan Barnard created history , Louis Washkansky became the world’s first recipient and Denise Darvall, the first donor.

Yes, the world’s first successful human heart transplant , this was , way back in 1967.

(In italics  above is the crux of what he thought , as he prepared himself for the surgery, as revealed in his book, One Life).

She was just 16 then. And her liver was threatening to make her bid good-bye to the beautiful world around her. But she wanted to live. She could, if she got her liver replaced.

Frantic searches for donors. Taking samples. Tests. More tests. Trying for the best match. Failures.  Repeating the cycle.

Her parents couldn’t , but her aunt came forth, ready to donate a piece of her liver to her niece. Miraculously, she was found to be the perfect match as a donor.

And then, law hindered. Legal hindrances seemed insurmountable at one point of time.

But fate wouldn’t let them fail. 

The story came to the attention of the society, and the Chief Minister of the state himself came forward to sort out the legal glitches and give a ‘ go-ahead’ for the surgery.

Prayers. Financial help. More prayers.

And finally, she started her journey towards life again. From a point where she would have fallen, but for the timely intervention of her aunt, and her magnanimity.

Swathi Krishna is now 19, and pursuing her graduation in Commerce from Ernakulam, Kerala. She’s currently getting trained in Classical dance forms too, as a part of her health regimen.

You  have two sons, and you’ve been raising them alone ever since they lost their father. They’re so loving, the sole joy in your life. One fine evening, the bike that they ride falls prey to an accident, killing the younger

of the two, and leaving the elder one battling for his life. To say that you’re shattered would be a grave understatement, and the next evening , you receive news that the elder son is brain-dead.

What do you do when fate plays this cruel game ?

No, you don’t fall down. You rise up in the face of the threatening grief, and you decide that your son will live through three other people.

You donate his liver, and two kidneys.

We salute you, Rajeena Ma’m, for being a strong woman, and a stronger mother.

Well, these are just two of the many inspiring stories on Organ Donation.

Would you like to read more ? Please do.

And now for a personal story (cutting short a long painful one, of course).

My aunt had received a kidney in a successful transplant, almost 16 years back. She had started living her life normally after that, but we lost her two years later. Even as we mourned at the loss, we were thankful that she had actually received an extended lease of life because of the kind-hearted lady who had donated her the kidney.

Ever since, organ donation has been a topic close to my heart.

God creates life, mother’s womb nurtures it, and brings it out. We grow.

Every single thing about our body is a miracle.

We all are miracles, that way. So when someone’s miracle doesn’t function properly, isn’t it a good thing that we have the power to set it right for them ?

How ?  By donating our organs. That would bring solace to so many aching hearts across the world.

We all know about blood donation, and have read enough and more on how the precious liquid saves lives. We are aware of blood banks too.

How about organ banks ?

I am.

We are.

Organ banks.

Who have been blessed with a good, healthy body, whose organs can help someone gain a new life, even after the heart has stopped beating and blood has stopped flowing.

Donating an organ is donating a life.

Imagine how many people can feel the difference in their lives if just one person donates all his organs -  eyes, heart, liver, kidneys, bone marrow, tissues…. isn’t that great ? :)

So, if we all decide to be donors, imagine the massive change it shall bring in the world around us !

True, little drops of water do make a mighty ocean.

And for this, let’s take care of our health. Obviously, we cannot donate something unless that is in proper condition, so let’s vow to ourselves that when we donate , we’ll donate them in as perfect a condition as we can.  Because, as I said,  we all are ‘Organ Banks’. The more we care for ourselves, the more our organs can be of help to someone else, after we bid goodbye to the world.

To answer the question that might have popped up by now, no, I haven’t registered yet as an organ donor. But I will. That’s a promise to myself.

No, not for an eternal life. 

But to add my drop of happiness to someone who might need it. And for the immense joy of being able to give :)

I’ll add a piece of myself to someone to add peace to his or her life !

So, how about adding yours ?

Love is never lost.....

“ Roby, I’m bringing little John home tomorrow, after signing the papers,” Rebecca spoke to Robert, as he looked at her with a smile.

“Fr. Patrick was really so surprised and happy, when I chose little John; he needs our love as much as Ronald did , you see”, she said.

Tears welled up in Rebecca’s eyes, as she thought of Ronald, Robert’s younger brother.

He was a young boy of fifteen at the time of Rebecca’s marriage to Robert, and she had loved him as her own son from her very first day in the family.

The real cornucopia of patience that she had been blessed with since her childhood  helped her care for Ronald, the way his physical challenges demanded.

Despite all the care, love and prayers, the inevitable loss that had happened two years back, left her life in a void, longing for some love.

“ I’m sure we can give little John as much love , care and happiness as we gave Ronald,” Rebecca said, looking at Robert with moist eyes.

“ You took Ronald with you, when you left ; don’t you think I need someone to love and care for as long as I’m here, to have a life of purpose?”, she questioned Robert, smiling through her sadness.

Robert continued to look at her with a smile on his face, from behind the frames of his photograph.
_______________________________________________________________________________________

 The first part of Rebecca's story can be read here.

The Write Tribe Festival of Words- 3 has begun ! Join us as we journey through a maze of words till the 8th of March, weaving our way out with a fresh challenge each day :)

Linking this to the post for Day 1, the challenge being a "9-sentences fiction". More details on the prompt for the day ,and some wonderful commenting tips can be found in this post.

No longer invincible, Mr C !

*Warning - This is a long post*

She was so beautiful, so young, had so much of life in her spirits, dreamt of a wonderful future, yet…

Yet destiny decided to play on her the cruel trick, shrouding her dreams of life with an impermeable veil of  devastating darkness.

She was just 12 or 13 when she was diagnosed with Cancer.

She fought bravely for the next five years, not letting the threatening certainty that loomed ahead, gain on her emotions.

On her blog, she made a bucket list of all that she wished to do, the places that she wished to see in her life, and the causes that she loved to fight for.

She wrote long posts about every day that she survived and every time she accomplished something, she would strike that off in her wishlist, to show the world that she was not yet defeated.

Her social media pages drew followers by the million.

Finally, when the big C won the final battle on January 12^th , 2013, Alice Pyne was not just a victim.

She was an epitome of strength, will power and the spirit to fight.

It's been one year since she left the world, but her spirit lives on .

Her family continue  working for all causes close to her heart , A Bone Marrow Register topping the list.

Cancer.

The Big C.

I really don’t know since when this word has gained a place in our daily vocabulary, so much so that not a single day passes, without it being mentioned at least once.

We get to read about brave souls who succumbed to his grips, or inspiring stories about those who fought the monster and survived his attack.

And much more about the dreaded C.

When the Write Tribe feature on Cancer came up, I decided to chip in with my share of personal stories.

When my paternal grandmother, seemingly healthy at 64, expressed her concern on not being able to swallow her food with ease, she was taken to the doctor.

Doubtlessly enough, she  was diagnosed with some ‘growth’ in her food pipe.  

This was followed by as many phases of radiation, as her health permitted.

Yet, the effect was only marginal, and she lost the battle in a year.

I was 13 when this happened, and I still remember weeping at the sight of her weakened body, emaciated by the doses of injection and medicines, as it lay waiting for the final journey.

From a very healthy, plump woman with an enviable thick mane of waist length hair,  she had been reduced to a skeletal frame with absolutely no flesh on the body and dry, coarse hair on the scalp.

That was my first brush with the Big C, and now I knew the havoc it could wreak in our lives.

That was when I felt like learning more.

And that’s when I got to know the amount of research being put into the prevention, cure and survival of the disease.

That someone could actually survive the brutality came as a relief to me.

Years flew past, and with it grew the mankind’s fight to release the world from the clutches of Cancer.

Research into the field gained new dimensions.

More and more awareness was created, and more and more survivors came out to speak to the world, about their conquest of the monster.

When I was in 12^th Standard, I had a classmate , S. We were a little more than just ‘hi-bye’ friends during the initial days. Later, we learnt how similar we were :  tamil-speaking Keralites, single-with-no-siblings, from middle-class families and students of Commerce. So that kindled some kind of a friendship, and though she was in another class, we would chat a lot when we met in common classes.

When we left school, we joined different colleges, and the connection snapped.

Those were the pre-mobile, pre-facebook, pre-orkut days. Heck, we didn’t even have email accounts back then.

We remained connected through some common friends, though.

Sometime during the final year of graduation, I got to know from some friends that the Big C had attacked S. She had been taken to the skin specialist for some inflammation on the skin just below her neck, and it turned out to be C.

But she was a tough girl.

She survived the attack with all her might. And that was indeed a great comeback.

Later, when she could attend college, she wore a wig and travelled in the local bus. As she was a daily face on the bus, the conductor asked her where she had been for a long time, and why her hair looked different.

She replied happily, “ Oh ! You didn’t know ? I was down with cancer, but now I’m ok. But I need to wear a wig, till I sprout some hair at least. I don’t want you to deny me my students’ concession, because you don’t recognise me !”.

The conductor and her co-passengers were left speechless for a moment; the next moment she was being congratulated for her brave spirit !

I was so happy for her when I heard of this incident from another friend of ours.

I met S a couple of times after that, and she was very warm, lively and enthusiastic about life ; of course, she had won it for herself, hadn’t she !

We’ve been out of touch for a while now, but to me she’s always my brave friend !!

The Union for International Cancer Control founded the World Cancer Day , marked on February 4^th, in support of the goals of the World Cancer Declaration. The theme for the World Cancer Day , 2014 is the 5^th Goal in the WCD, being 'Reduce stigma and dispel myths about cancer', under the tagline,  “Debunk the myths”.

 

A write-up on Cancer is incomplete without the mention of  Dr.Siddhartha Mukherjee, an Indian-born American physician, and an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Columbia University.

His efforts at detailing the  evolution of the diagnosis and treatment of Cancer from ancient Egypt, to the latest developments in the area, through his book, The Emperor of All Maladies : A Biography of Cancer, won him the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-fiction in the year 2011.

This book is said to be one of the must-reads in understanding, fighting and surviving the disease.

Reading this book will be my next step towards understanding more and more about the enemy to be vanquished !!

 

The pain that cancer causes is not just physical; its emotional, psychological.

It leaves the survivors with terrible emotional scars, and even those physicall unaffected with a numb mind and an aching heart, if we don’t learn to stand up and fight.

With Science and Technology advancing every second, I sincerely wish there’s more and more innovation happening in Cancer treatment and therapy.

 

All prayers for a Cancer-free world !