The gift of life

There is something very special happening today. I’ll explain.

Ane has two friends in her Sunday School class who she has known pretty much all her life – L., our youth pastor’s son (who we visited when he was born in the hospital – Ane was 5 months old), and R., another boy who used to be an absolute terror in the nursery (crying hysterically whenever his parents left him), but he eventually outgrew that and has become quite well-adjusted in Sunday School.

Today, L.’s mother is donating a kidney to R.’s uncle.

R.’s aunt and uncle are missionaries, and were in India (along with their little daughter), when the uncle discovered that he was going into kidney failure. They came back to the States, with no hope of returning to India – or, really, of leading a normal life since he was now on dialysis – unless he could get a kidney transplant. This was announced to our church congregation, along with the uncle’s blood type and the potential opportunity to donate.

The Webmaster and I were automatically out because we were the wrong blood type, but L.’s parents decided to both be tested. Out of the many people willing to donate a kidney, L.’s mother, who is a friend of mine, was the best match. She is one of the most generous souls I know, and giving this kidney is so in character for her. L. and T., his big sister (who is 5 and has a birthday right around Ane’s) are staying with their grandparents for a week so their mother can recover, and their father is taking two weeks off to take care of them – not that he’ll have to do much cooking; I think the list of people bringing meals over is a mile long.

As I write right now, they are in surgery.

So, this Valentine’s Day, remember that a gift of love does not always come from the heart. Sometimes, it comes from a kidney.

Please send good wishes and prayers their way for a safe surgery, a quick recovery, and a full return to health for both L.’s mother and R.’s uncle.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 14th, 2007 at 10:19 am and is filed under From the Church Front.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed and Both comments and pings are currently closed.