February 27, 2008

• An Act of Mercy

  Remember last Wednesday when I talked about the services my church is having during lent?  Yesterday (that’s right, YESTERDAY!) my Pastor called and asked if I could be prepared to take the portion of the service that deals with Acts of Mercy.  He knows me pretty well and knows about some of the things I am involved in — one in particular that he was hoping I could speak about.  So guess what I did with about 1/2 my day yesterday and more than 1/2 today?  I prepared my “speech”, of course!  Actually, I am WAY more of a writer and a reader than I am a speaker, speaking is a bit outside of my comfort zone.  I was really glad that I had been dusting off my writing skills here at Xanga lately.  The rest of this post is going to be what I said (“read”?) at church tonight.

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  Did you know that every 2 seconds, someone in America needs a blood?  Or that one of every 4 people will need blood products at some time in their life?  How about this statistic – every day in the United States 38,000 pints of blood are needed to adequately serve patients.  A healthy adult can donate a pint of blood every 56 days, and although 60% of the US population is eligible to give blood, only 5% actually does so. The top 3 reasons given for not giving blood are “I am afraid of needles or blood”, “I am too busy”, or “I didn’t know my blood was needed”.  The truth is, the entire blood donation process takes only an hour from start to finish, with the actual time spent donating blood lasting only on average about 7 to 10 minutes.  Most people report very little discomfort, and the fluid volume lost by your body is replaced within 24 hours.  The number one reason people give FOR giving blood is “It is the right thing to do”.

  The need for blood is great.  Currently, there is no acceptable substitute for human blood. Every day blood must be available to trauma victims, surgery patients, premature babies and patients receiving treatment for cancer or other chronic conditions, such as sickle cell disease or hemophilia, to name just a few.  You never know when you or someone you  love will need blood.  In fact, statistics tell us that 95% of us will be personally affected by the need for blood, either for ourselves or for someone very close to us.

  All of my life I have been aware of the need for blood.  As a child, I remember my father being called regularly to give blood at our local hospital.  He is a WWII vet, so he has a firsthand understanding of how valuable a blood donation can be.  I donated my first pint of blood while I was a college student.  My career path eventually led me to a job at Memorial Blood Center in Minneapolis, where I worked for 5 years before becoming a fulltime mom.  There I became intimately acquainted with the need for blood and the whole blood donation process, all the way from donor, through testing, to the recipient.  While I was working there, my younger sister gave birth for the first time, and after delivery, as an unexpected complication began hemorrhaging uncontrollably.  The doctor later told her that she lost 2/3 of her total blood volume, and that without the transfusions, she likely would not have survived.  Her need for blood was immediate, and unpredictable, as is the case with many blood recipients.  If not for the generosity of strangers who took the time to give blood, I might have lost a sister, my nephew would have lost his mother within minutes of his birth, and she would not have gone on in later years to deliver two more healthy sons (apparently boys run in our family!)  A few years later, as a young mother here in town, I met another  mother, Konnie O.  I learned that she was the local chairperson for the community blood drives.  I once told her to keep me in mind if she ever needed help.  I’m not exactly sure what I had in mind when I made the offer, and after awhile I pretty much forgot about it, but Konnie didn’t!  Last summer she called me and asked if I would consider being her co-chair, in charge of donor recruitment.  After giving the request some consideration, I said yes.

  As a Christian, I strive to follow Jesus’ command to “Love the Lord your God and your neighbor as yourself”.  Mercy, as defined by John Wesley, is  “every work of charity included, every thing which we give, or speak, or do, whereby our neighbour may be profited; whereby another man may receive any advantage, either in his body or soul.”  The dictionary’s definition is simpler:  An act of kindness, compassion or favor.  It is difficult for me to imagine a more personal act of mercy than the gift of life, for that is truly what a blood donation is.  Every donated unit of blood can help to save as many as three lives.  And who can better understand the gift of life through blood than those who have received the gift of eternal life, those of us who are covered by the sacrificial blood of Jesus? 

  When Pastor John called me yesterday to ask if I would speak about my involvement with the blood drive, I immediately went online to start researching the pertinent facts.  Among the lists of statistics I came across, one article stood out as being different than the rest – more personal.  It was written by Dean Eller, a former mortgage banker turned blood banker.  Today he is the president  and ceo of the Central California Blood Center.  16 years ago he was a heartbroken father who had just learned that his daughter was suffering from leukemia.  Tonight I want to share with you part of his moving story.

  “There’s no easy way to tell you this,” lamented the doctor that day in January of 1992. “It’s what we feared. A very aggressive type of leukemia. One-third of those diagnosed die within 30 days. I’m sorry.”

  My wife, Claudia, and I sat in shock. Words choked within us. How could this be? Our daughter, Jenny, was an attractive high-school senior—a straight-A student!—who loved God with all her heart. As the all-star catcher on the softball team at her high school, she was being recruited by several Division I universities.

  As we drove home from the doctor’s office, I asked Jenny what she thought. Without hesitation she said, “I just don’t want you and Mom to be sad … because I’m not sad. I’m a little nervous about the treatment, but I’m not sad! I know God is in control, and whatever the outcome, I know I am in His will.”

  Her composure stunned me. At a time when most teenagers would be falling apart, my daughter picked me up, put me on her shoulders and carried me. For the next four years, as she fought this cancer, she showed me what courage—and life—is all about.

  Within days, Jenny began chemotherapy. Because the treatment wiped out her body’s ability to make blood, she received at least two transfusions a week. Over time she would use hundreds and hundreds of pints of life-saving blood.

  Not long after she was diagnosed, our local blood bank asked Jenny to attend its annual appreciation luncheon to thank the donors. Claudia and I remember that day clearly. Jenny wore a long dress, and her head was bald. She walked up to the podium and looked out at the 800 regular donors in the audience, held out her hands, and her chin began to quiver: “Thank you … for letting me live.”

  Six words. The most powerful words a blood donor can hear.

  For the next four years, Jenny became the official spokesperson for the Central California Blood Center. She believed God had given her life a profound purpose that went beyond school or softball or even recovering from leukemia.

  She never wavered in her faith, nor did she ask God, “Why me?”

  But I did.

  I was at my lowest ebb during the summer of 1993, when Jenny was receiving a bone marrow transplant. The procedure takes the patient to a point where she has no immune system left, and any kind of germ could kill her.

  That particular moonlit night, I rested under a big bay window in her hospital room. Jenny was asleep. Sleep was precious to her then. I was feeling lonely and vulnerable, and I began to sob softly. In that moment, I asked, Why, God? Why is this happening to her? She loves You so much. Where are You?

  Then I sensed in my spirit a still, small voice saying: “Here I am, Dean. Here I am.” My eyes focused to the right of her bed. The moon coming in the window illuminated the iv pole, casting the shadow of a huge cross on the wall. “Here I am, Dean.” On the pole was a bag of blood.

  In that instant, I thought of the life-giving blood that poured out of Jesus as He hung on the cross. Later I wondered about His blood type. Surely He was O-negative, the universal donor. That blood can save anyone.

  Through that long night, as God comforted me, I thought about the three main components of blood—red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets—and considered how they each represent Him.

  Red blood cells are like God the Father, the author of life. They bring oxygen, the breath of life, to every cell in our body. White blood cells are like God the Son, our advocate and defender. They fight against that which infects us. Platelets are like God the Holy Spirit, our healer. They are sticky cells that rush to the site when we are cut and form a clot that closes the wound and helps us heal.

  I gasped, astonished to see the Trinity so clearly revealed in the blood.”

  Hundreds of faithful donors kept our daughter alive and gave us almost four more years together—a gift beyond measure. Four precious years that Jenny enjoyed as she finished high school and started college, an optimistic pre-med major. Four years of celebrating birthdays, Christmases, and family outings. That’s what blood donors gave us. Not just blood, but four more years for this father to watch his daughter mature into a young woman and fall in love with a wonderful young man. Four more years of father-daughter talks into the wee hours of the morning, just the two of us.

  When Jenny died on October 28, 1995, a month before her 22nd birthday, she lost her battle with leukemia, but she fulfilled her purpose in life. Just before she died, I promised her that I would carry on that work. To me, it was like receiving a spiritual transfusion. Echoing in my heart are the voices I need every hour of every day.

  God’s still, small voice: “Here I am, Dean. Here I am.”

  Jenny’s voice, speaking to donors: “Thank you for letting me live.”

  My own voice, a whispered prayer: “Not my will, Lord, but Yours.”

  Almost anything I can say after that will be a little anti-climactic, but I do need to tell you a bit about what is happening right here in our community, and even right here in our church!

  The American Red Cross Blood Services North Central Region, based in St. Paul, serves more than 100 hospitals in Minnesota, western Wisconsin and eastern South Dakota. One of the 100 hospitals the Red Cross supplies blood to in Minnesota is our local Medical Center.   Our local high school, community college, Medical Center and American Legion all sponsor Red Cross blood drives in town.  Last year, local donors gave about 665 pints of blood at American Red Cross blood drives. Since each donation can help save up to three lives, our donors helped save almost 2,000 lives.

  I am personally involved in helping to organize 4 of those blood drives each year.  They are held in January, March, June and September.  Two weeks from today, on March 12^th, our church will be the host site for the March blood drive.  It will be a one day event, held from 1pm until 7pm.  That means when you come here to eat soup and attend worship service, or come for confirmation or youth group or choir practice or Bible study, you will be seeing even more activity than you usually see here on a Wednesday night.  It also means that if you are at least 17 years old and you come a little early, you can personally participate in this Act of Mercy and help save a life by giving the gift of your blood.   Tonight I challenge each of you who is eligible to consider making a commitment to becoming a blood donor.  If you cannot give blood, there are plenty of other ways to become involved.  Your involvement will be an act of mercy that will literally mean life to a neighbor in need.

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  I had several people approach me after the service with offers to help.  Interestingly, almost everyone has a blood donation story to share. 

   

  • 10:07 pm
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