What would you sacrifice for a friend's child?
This is a story that started on New Year's Day so it's a good basis for a New Year's Resolution.
Just a little backstory: I'm organizing a progressive dinner for the high school my kids attend. There are between 300-400 families at the school so it's a big project, and everything must be standardized. No individual requests can be honored due to the complexity of the event. All of the dinners are hosted in private homes, so headcount is important.
On Jan. 1st, I got a note asking if I could make an exception for one woman who was having surgery. She wanted to sign up for the dinner early, reserve two spots, and then maybe not attend if her recovery didn't go well. Plus she wanted to be assigned to a dinner with 1 of 2 friends.
This is a nuisance because we don't allow people to make individual requests as it gets too complicated. Jane wants to eat vegetarian and be with Suzi. Suzi wants to eat meat and dine with Renee. Renee announces that she doesn't eat any mammals, including rabbits. At this point, you want to start hollering that you aren't serving bunnies!
Deep breath. You can see the potential issues.
Her request was also a problem because the hosts don't want empty seats at their table, and we don't want to turn people away and then end up with empty spots if someone can't attend.
But, fortunately, I felt we had to make an exception for someone undergoing surgery and I told her we'd accommodate her requests.
Thank you, God, or Plato. In response to a question I asked about her "joint surgery", she wrote back, explaining she was donating her "extra" kidney to the son of one of her friends! I was flabbergasted. (The son also attends this school and his parents hope to attend the dinner as well.)
To say I was speechless would be an understatement. Not only will she be short that kidney forevermore, she must also undergo a major, life-threatening surgery. I can't say that I would be able to make that kind of sacrifice. But I was so humbled by this woman's generosity.
And this brings me to Plato and my New Year's Resolution:
Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle. (Plato)
I hope I can remember it.
Does anyone else have New Year's resolutions? Or tell us if you could make this kind of sacrifice.
4 comments:
Wow, what a great story, Carly!
I'm awfully glad your instincts kicked in an made you say yes! What an amazing thing to do.
Hmmm. That's a very tough question. My ex-husband has had two kidney transplants. The last one his mother was actually a match. She wasn't the first time around, but medicine had come a long way in 15 years so she matched and gave hers to him. He was on dialysis for a year with a match. Without one, it would have been three to five years.
So I am huge into organ donation.
Now this comes with a but. Being through what I've been through, I'm not sure I could do it for a friend. I would have given my husband my kidney in a minute and I guess that is why I hesitate when thinking outside the family. I have this worry that what if someone in my mom, dad or sister would need it, or heaven forbid, one of my own children and I'd already gave it to someone else. It's a very selfish thought, but I have it. I guess in the end it would depend. So I give this woman mad props for stepping up to the plate.
I'd like to see more of those group transplants. The waiting list would be so much shorter if they did more of those.
Yes, organ donation is an excellent thing. But I hope I never have to do it.
Wow 2 kidney transplants. That's amazing.
Post a Comment