Rev. Phil Pinckard on another way to express one’s faith

The Gifts of Life

Monday’s child is fair of face; Tuesday’s child is full of grace;
Wednesday’s child is full of woe; Thursday’s child has far to go;
Friday’s child is loving and giving; Saturday’s child has to work for a living.
But a child born on the Sabbath Day is good and wise and fair alway. [1]

My only son, Mark, was born just before midnight on Friday, April 27, 1984. On May 21, 2002. This loving and giving child donated his liver, kidneys, corneas, bones, tissue, and heart valves. Advances in 20th century medicine made those gifts possible. The first successful kidney transplant was completed in 1954. Organs and tissues are “non-renewable resources.”

Blood, sperm, and bone marrow are “renewable resources.” I’ve donated blood regularly since 1989 when Mark was five. Donating takes about thirty minutes and involves minor discomfort. A modest health benefit to the donor is reduced blood pressure. Giving “life-saving blood” is a spiritual metaphor. Could we become blood donors not merely as a civic duty, but as a spiritual exercise?

“Resources on the margin” include a healthy kidney or liver. After Mark’s death, Gina Benson, an L.P.N., asked about becoming a living donor for her friend, Regina Allen, R.N. This gift of life demonstrates “What does the Lord require, but to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly before God.” (Micah 6:8). Gina and Regina are both healthy and whole. One sacrificed her well-being to ensure the health of her friend. What an ethic of love!

Resources no longer useful to a deceased donor are organs and tissues. When Mark died suddenly of a brain injury resulting from a vehicle accident, I knelt in front of his mother Jodie, took her hands in mine, and said, “He’s gone; do you want to donate his organs?” It was possibly the clumsiest approach to donation ever spoken. Instantly Jodie said “Yes.” Hours later we learned that Mark and his French II classmates had discussed organ and tissue donation. Mark said “If anything were to happen to me, I’d want them to take anything and everything they could use, because where I’m going, I won’t need it.”

Friday evening November 19, 2003, I was paged to the emergency room for a sudden death. Catrice Allison “Allie” Johnson had been struck by a car near Washington Middle School. Allie, 14, was walking home from the Boys & Girls Club. Her mother was hysterical. Eighty minutes later, I said “Allie is a potential tissue and cornea donor. Would you consent? Others could be helped and good would come from this tragedy.” Her mother calmly said, “Allie would want that.”

Over 97,000 Americans await an organ, a number expected to reach 100,000 by 2010. In Arkansas, donor education is mandated by legislation in driver education and health classes. Imagine the difference if donation was taught starting in elementary through medical school? Suppose doctors reminded their patients of the value of donation and encouraged them to talk with their families? An avid fisherman helps another fly-cast in the stream! A devoted mother helps another see her children graduate, marry, and have grandchildren. One beloved child resurrects another? Wrapped in mourning, these gifts of life are vital ways persons of faith may express their deepest beliefs.

[1] Nursery Rhyme, Author unknown

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