THE BLOOD TRANSFUSION
It’s a Wednesday night and you are at church when somebody runs in from the parking lot yelling, “Turn on a radio, turn on a radio!” And while the church listens to a little transistor radio with a microphone stuck up to it, the announcement is made: “Two women are lying in a Long Island hospital dying from a ‘mystery’ flu.” Within hours it seems an epidemic sweeps across the country. People are working around the clock trying to find an antidote. Nothing is working…from California to Arizona to Florida to Massachusetts. It’s sweeping across the states!
And then, all of a sudden, the news
comes out. The code has been broken. A cure has been found. A vaccine can be made but, it’s going to take
the blood of somebody who has not yet been infected. And so, through every channel of emergency
broadcasting, people are asked to do one simple thing: “Go to the nearest
hospital so we can get a sample of your blood.”
Sure enough, when you and your
family arrive, there is a long line. Nurses
and doctors are pricking fingers, taking blood and putting labels on vials. When they take your blood they say, “Wait
here in the parking lot and we’ll let you know when you are dismissed to go
home.” You stand around, scared, wondering
if this is really the end of the world.
Suddenly a young man comes running
out of the hospital yelling to the top of his lungs. He’s shouting a name and
waving a clipboard. What? He yells it again! And your son tugs on your jacket and says, “Daddy,
that's me!” Before you know it, they
have grabbed up your boy. Wait a minute!
Hold on! And they say, “It’s okay, his blood seems
clean and pure, but we want to make sure he doesn’t have the disease. We think
he is just the right type.” Five tense minutes later, out come the doctors and
nurses, crying and hugging one another, some are even laughing. It’s the first
time you have seen anybody laugh in a week, and a doctor walks up to you and
says, “Thank you, sir. Your son’s blood is just what we need. It’s clean, it’s pure, and we can make the vaccine
and save our world.”
As this tremendous
news spreads across the globe, people are screaming and praying and laughing
and crying. Then a gray-haired doctor
pulls you and your wife aside and asks, “May we see you for moment? We didn't realize that the donor would be a
minor and we need you to sign a consent form.” You start to sign, but then you notice that
the number of pints of blood needed has been left blank. “How many pints?” you ask. And that is when the doctor's smile fades and
he says,
“We had no idea it would be a little
child. I'm sorry sir, we need it all!”
“But, but…that’s my son!”
“We are talking about saving the whole
world, sir. Please sign. We need it all!”
“But can't you give him a
transfusion?”
“If we had clean blood we would. Could you sign? Would you just sign?”
In numb silence and tears, you sign
the document.
Then they say, “Would you like to
have a moment with him before we begin?”
Could you walk back to that
hospital room where your child anxiously waits, sitting on a gurney? “Daddy?
Mommy? What's going on?” Could you
take his hands and say, “Son, your mommy and I love you, and we would never let
anything happen to you that did not have to be. Do you understand that?” The doctor comes back in and says, “I’m sorry,
we’ve GOT to get started. People all
over the world are dying!” Could you leave your son behind? Would
you walk out while he is crying: “Mommy?
Daddy? Father…why?
Why have you forsaken me?”
-Author Unknown
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