IFE. THE STRUGGLE FOR IT CONSUMES us, the evidence of it awes us, and the force of it moves us. We don’t always understand it, but we are always grateful for it. When it seems as if the whole world is against us, in the face of supreme loss when we are at our lowest point, we are still alive. And with life there is always hope.

Although we rarely stop to consider it, life began as a gift. God stooped low over the moist clay form of Adam and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. In that instant God gave Adam the first greatest gift. He gave His breath, and with it life. Later Adam himself played a part in extending the gift of life to another.

“While he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man” (Gen. 2:21, 22, NIV).

A Whole New Life
In 1988 Nancy White and her husband, Alan, were leaving Australia for a three-year stay in the United States. While getting medical clearance Nancy learned that her kidneys were deteriorating. She had known since 1970 that she had a hereditary condition known as polycystic kidney disease. In all, eight female relatives had inherited the disease.

“You will probably be all right for 10 years,” she was told, “but your kidneys are deteriorating.”

“Ten years” lasted about 18 months. In polycystic kidney disease, cysts in the kidney grow and multiply until they take over and the kidney loses its function. The kidney gets bigger, and the cysts erupt and burst.

A Providence Shared The most important tool we have for increasing the number of organ and tissue donations each year is communication (for instance, the following information could be used in your church bulletin). Transplantations save lives, but only if you help. Say yes to organ and tissue donation on your donor card* and/or driver’s license. In order to ensure that your wishes are followed, you must talk to the members of your family. You can prevent them needless anguish by letting them know how you feel today. God calls us to be careful and wise stewards of all that He has given us, and that includes our bodies. *Call 1-888-ASK-HRSA, internationally 800-TRIO-386, or visit www.organdonor.gov.

She went on the kidney transplant list and stayed there for about 10 months. Three people offered her the gift of one of their kidneys. A donor has to match up in several areas to be considered a good match. Unfortunately, for one reason or another, none of Nancy’s volunteers worked out.

So Nancy was forced to go on peritoneal dialysis—done through a tube inserted into her stomach. She performed the procedure 45 minutes every four hours—every day. After enduring dialysis for nearly three years she finally got the call.

“We have a kidney for you.”

It was early morning, she remembers, when she flew in and was prepped. Then came an agonizing delay. The donor had multiple health problems relating to alcoholism, and the kidney was large and scarred.

After weighing the risks, she decided to turn down the kidney. “We prayed about it,” Nancy said, “and I just felt it wasn’t right. It wasn’t really what was best.” Miraculously, five days later the call came again. This time the transplant was a great success.

“It’s been a whole new life,” Nancy says. “I can’t thank the Lord enough. I can’t thank the people who gave the permission, whether it was the donor or his family, enough. So many people can save lives just by thinking about it beforehand and discussing it with their families. I’m very grateful.”

Seven years later she and her husband moved back to Australia. But she took a piece of America back with her—the very best piece, because someone had enough courage to give her the gift of life even in the face of personal tragedy. They found a way to make sense of something senseless.

National Donor Sabbath
Death is a nontopic for most of us. We don’t want to face it. We don’t want to talk about it. We certainly don’t want to plan for it. We prefer to put it out of our minds until it’s absolutely necessary. If we have filled out a donor card and discussed our choices with our family, we can expect to have our wishes honored at our death. Unfortunately, few people discuss their desire to become a donor with their families. They leave behind them grieving loved ones who must make the decision without having the benefit of knowing how the deceased felt about such things.     

In the United States the Depart-ment of Health and Human Services has designated November 9-11, 2001, as National Donor Sabbath. Last year Congress passed a resolution to designate Thanksgiving Day as a day to “Give Thanks, Give Life” and to discuss organ and tissue donation with other family members. At this time the attention of the nation turns toward all that we have to be thankful for. Families will gather to celebrate life and loved ones. But some families will be gathered, not around a bountiful table, but around the hospital bed of a loved one awaiting an organ or tissue transplant. They will be praying for something to be thankful for. (For more information about what to do on National Donor Sabbath, visit www.organdonor.gov and go to Upcoming Events.)

There are more than 77,000 people on the national waiting list who need an organ transplant. Thousands more need tissue transplants. Of these, about 5,000 will die while they are waiting. They won’t die because there are not enough organs. They will die because there aren’t enough people willing to be donors.

Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds” (John 12:24, NIV). So too, our organs and tissue help many people. A single donor can potentially provide organs, bone, and tissue for up to 50 people (possibly more) who desperately need them. And in some cases we can give the ultimate gift of our organs to a family member in need while we are still alive.

The Gift of Life
My niece, Morraye Coleman, is someone who gladly gave that gift. Her sister, Rachel Williams, lost the use of her kidneys because of the debilitating effects of juvenile diabetes. “As soon as Rachel said she needed my kidney I was willing,” says Morraye. “I prayed, ‘Lord, if my kidney is a match, then it’s Your will.’ I didn’t have second thoughts.”

“It was a wonderful thing to do, a wonderful gift of life,” says Rachel. “I know of those who have 12 and 13 siblings, and none of them will volunteer to donate a kidney. And here I have only one sister, who didn’t think twice about it. It goes to show you the enormity of the love she has for me. I have two birthdays now. I celebrate the day I was born and the day I received my second chance to live.”

Traditionally, Adventists have been very supportive of organ transplants. Dr. Leonard Bailey and Loma Linda University Medical Center in Loma Linda, California, have pioneered the field of infant heart transplants.  Although they are perhaps best known for their heart transplants, they perform many other types of transplants as well. Transplantation is, in the very best possible sense of the concept, a Samaritan act of charity. Organ donors literally pull people back from the brink of the grave and hand them life.

In the eighth month of pregnancy Karen and Fred Schouten learned their unborn baby girl had a condition known as anencephaly, which meant that she would be born without a major part of her brain. If born alive, she would be with them for a very short time. Fred and Karen decided to allow their daughter to become a donor in hopes that her gift would save other parents the devastating experience of losing their child as well.

Their precious little baby was born, but died the next day. They named her Gabriel, after the angel who guards the gates of heaven. Her fleeting life would affect one tiny boy in particular. For him her gift was the difference between life and death.

Baby Paul Holc was not even born when it was discovered that he had hypoplastic left heart syndrome and would need a heart transplant to survive. Baby Paul was registered with the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), even though he was only at 36 weeks’ gestation. When Gabriel’s heart became available the Holcs were notified to fly immediately to Loma Linda for the transplant.

That baby, Paul Gabriel Bailey Holc, known to the world affectionately as “The Incredible Holc,” became quite famous. In 1994 NBC made a movie, Heart of a Child, about his miraculous experience and the courageous gift of life given to him by two grieving parents and one very special child. Today “Baby” Paul Holc is an athletic 13-year-old with a passion for life. To look at him you would never guess that he nearly died before he had a chance to live.

“Some people work their whole lives to do something memorable,” says Karen Schouten. “Gabriel gave of herself. That’s a pretty great legacy to leave.”

And Paul is only one among 333 children from birth to age 18 who have had heart transplants done by Loma Linda University Medical Center. Maybe you’ve seen the picture of 18 of the littlest survivors of heart transplants lined up in a row with Dr. Bailey. Some are grinning at the camera, some slouching into their befuddled neighbors, some crying, but all alive.

In any case, it is safe to say that life is the only gift that truly keeps on giving.

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DeWitt S. Williams is director of North American Health Ministries Department. For more information: www.nadadventist.org/hm — Click on Coordinator for Organ Donations/Donor Sabbath