Writer's Block: Kindness of Strangers

[franklanguage]

[Error: unknown template qotd]I'd only donate a kidney to a stranger if he or she was vegan; I'm registered, however, with the National Marrow Donor Program and would gladly give my marrow to a stranger.

Comments

what?

[padiwack.livejournal.com]

Just curious, but WHY?

Are you of the mind set that vegans are better than anyone else? Those that partake of different food choices are not deserving of a second chance to a healthy and happy life?

Why would your "gift" come with such strings attached?

Re: what?

[franklanguage.livejournal.com]

Do you remember Mickey Mantle? He needed a liver transplant, and because he was famous he got to push ahead of other, possibly more-worthy recipients. He died shortly after his transplant because his overall health was poor—he said himself, "If I'd known I was going to live so long, I would have taken better care of myself;" frankly, I think this was a waste of a liver that could have gone to a more viable candidate. Any organ transplant should be taken absolutely seriously; do you remember Robert Tools, the recipient of an artificial heart? He was receiving the heart after everything had failed and he had heaped countless abuses on his own cardiovascular system. What did they feed him to celebrate the success of the surgery? Cheesecake and ice cream! Nobody gives a heart patient cheesecake and ice cream!

I have recently been considering donating a kidney for real because there is such a shortage of donors, and considering I can donate only one, not both, I'd like to see it go to someone with a good chance of survival. I'm sorry if that sounds heartless to you, but vegans tend to live longer, healthier lives; why would we forgo animal products if there weren't an underlying reason—besides the inherent cruelty in harvesting animal products?

I mean, my mom has progressive lung disease, and if it would help her, I'd give her my lung, but that has never even been mentioned by her or her doctors. She's 75 and currently on oxygen support; I wish I could do more for her.

I mentioned I'm in the NMDR (National Marrow Donor Registry), and I've donated a lot of units of platelets in the past. These gifts don't come with strings, naturally; and why would I want to make sure my platelets went to a "healthy" cancer patient? That's kind of anal-retentive.

So please don't think I haven't thought this out.

[padiwack.livejournal.com]

Not at all, I am sure you have thought this out carefully. I was just wondering why you would insist on a Vegan to get the donation. What if they were just a Vegetarian?

[franklanguage.livejournal.com]

There are a lot of extenuating circumstances; I'm just saying I don't think it's unreasonable to expect someone to be a vegan (and thus possibly healthier and motivated to stay relatively healthy) than Joe Six-pack or Mickey Mantle.

It's similar to how they expect you to type 50 WPM+ regardless of the position you're applying for; you could be applying to be an auto mechanic and some places would still want you to type at least 50 words per minute. Silly? Crazy? Yeah, but it narrows down the selection. Considering that everybody applying for a kidney transplant needs one, it's going to be pretty difficult if not impossible to figure out who needs one the most.

Many vegetarians are heading toward being vegans; not only is dairy notoriously difficult to quit, but people often quit eating meat first. Still, dairy consumption causes a lot of health problems people aren't even aware of, so I think it's reasonable to expect that kind of commitment.

[regenvogel.livejournal.com]

huh yeah I would but my kidneys won't do anyone any good... I'd rather someone gave me one.
marrow, sure.