Closer to the Kindred Spirit

For the past two years, we had been seriously contemplating about kidney transplant for one of our brothers, who lost both his kidneys, and now is on dialysis twice a week. He was in the South, hoping to get a kidney transplant, but when everything was ready, and his papers went to the medical council of the district, a customary procedure in any state, his application was rejected. Therefore he had to be brought to our place, and we had been contemplating what we could do, keeping in mind our moral, legal and ethical standards, without impinging on the law of the land. But we have realized that it is not easy to do this.

We were lucky to have several medical practitioners to give us ideas about what we could do; in fact having so many doctors to advise and propose to us, has been one of the drawbacks of the entire process, which had been getting delayed, when we wished to explore every avenue that different doctors proposed to us. Requesting a kidney donation from a non-relative donor had been a shady area which we wanted to avoid from the beginning; but looking at the situation of our companion needing a kidney, we have no other option than to explore other ways of getting a kidney for him from the non-relative category, and he has a lady, wife of his brother’s friend, who is ready to donate one of her kidneys.

What we do not wish to do is : endanger the life of a person, in order to save the life of one of our companions. Medical practitioners have said that a healthy person can easily donate one of his/her kidneys, and generally the lone kidney would start functioning for the two, and there should not be any problem. But what if later in life, the person experiences problem with the kidney? That is a remote possibility, but we cannot brush it aside altogether. We were also wondering, if one of our companions not donate a kidney for this ailing companion! That would be more in keeping with the fellowship we share in common, but would that take shape?

I could see that the companion who is in dire need of a kidney is frantically looking forward to a transplant, so that he could drink water normally, and work and keep himself as a normal person would. Sometimes he talks to me in such pathetic voice that I cannot be indifferent to him. At the same time, this is not an issue which can be plunged into without calculating the risk factors, the repercussions, because here it is not an individual who is involved, but an institution. We are required to tread slowly and steadily, so that we do not do anything which may jeopardize our work and mission. But not everyone would look at this angle.

Moral and ethical issues cannot be left out, while considering a non-relative donor; the law of the land had been made stringent, so that a poor person is not led to sell his/her organs for money, though such things happen throughout the country. Our companion did admit that in the South, it was such a case, where an agent was given Rupees two lacs, hoping that his candidate’s kidney would fit, and he would get another two lacs at the end of the transplant. I was told that the donor would get a minimum amount. Whether we like it or not, organ donation is a lucrative business, where innocent poor are victims and even the law is not able to stop it. The question that I feel we should ask ourselves is, whether we should allow ourselves to buy the life of a poor person, badly in need of money?

Into Eternity

Organ donation is still a rare phenomenon in our country; and the same is true of other nations as well. When we come across persons who have dared to donate their eyes and body, we raise our eye-brows; we find it hard to believe that there are persons who could so easily pledge their eyes, so that through someone else, they can see the world; their bodies would be used for medical research in medical colleges and research centers, so that students would be able to learn anatomy and be able to serve humanity better. There are so much organs in need each day, and probably only a fraction of the demand is met by generous souls!

I am coming back to Jyoti Basu, who had donated his eyes, and body; his body had been donated to the SSKM medical college and research center. That was Basu's last gift to humanity, truly a wonderful gift! We Christians believe in buying our bodies, so that they may become earth; Hindus cremate their bodies after death, and they too become earth. But when cadaver is handed over for the betterment of humanity, does it not serve a greater purpose than reminding us that we are earth, and to earth all shall return. After death, what else do we have to offer to the world, but our bodies, and that is what this great man has done, and I take my hats off for him.

We live in a society, where even ordinary blood donation is a matter of great rarity. There are sophisticated people who would reason out why they should donate blood, which may be sold for a big price! There is so much of blood is in want each day for either direct transfusion, or during surgeries that sometimes people lose their lives due to lack of blood stock. But, what do I lose by donating a unit of blood? I don't lose anything; the body is able to get back to normal within minutes, and still the stigma remains. We do not need to donate blood on every second month, to make a record, but if we can donate blood whenever we can, we are being responsible social beings.

There are such lovely words said of blood donation; this is something that all of us can do so easily, and it does not cost us anything. All that we require is a little courage, and a greater amount of generosity. Only about one in a ten thousand or million may die due to donating blood, and when we give blood to the needy, we are sharing the free gift of nature. This is something that we all of us can share without holding back, and it is this blood which makes us all one, going beyond distinctions of rich and poor, privileged or underprivileged. We do not need to worry about donating our eyes or our body, we can start with blood donation. If I can donate blood to those in dire need, I can be proud to be a universal citizen.

There is fear and prejudice against organ donation; this happens even between siblings and first degree relations. We are surely against commercialization of human organs, which are priceless gifts; but if I can pledge to give my body and the eyes, which is not at all going to affect the way I am, after life spirit departs from my mortal remains, it can contribute a lot to humanity. I know deep within that my spirit is calling me to fill in the form of pledge to donate my organs, eyes and the body, and still there is something which is stopping me, but I know after a few weeks or months, I would dare to fill in the pledge, and tell the world I care for her!