20150414真誠之愛秉信念 Tzu Chi`s Mission of Bone Marrow Donation
I didn't hesitate, I want to help
What's important is saving lives. So, what the media say about Tzu Chi won't change my mind to help.
To marrow donors, it might not be something. But to someone who is dying, it is a chance. It means a ray of hope.
See how people take part in our bone marrow drive. In order to save lives. We also see a born marrow recipient who has regained his health after having a bone marrow transplant.
I was in despair when my doctor told me that I should be prepared because the survival rate of my condition is low. When Tzu Chi's informed me that they had found matches for me, it gave me great encouragement. Without Tzu Chi's bone marrow registry, I'd have me hope and it'd be difficult to move on.
Over 20 years ago, we started to promote bone marrow donation. At first, I was not sure whether we were able to do this. But I kept thinking that with Taiwan's economic and medical standards, Taiwan should have the skills to do the work. But where could we find people to donate bone marrow? It is not easy to set up a bone marrow registry, so we kept inquiring and seeking professional opinions, but many in the field of medicine told me not to do it. Moreover, the odds of finding a matching donor is one in ov er 100,000, which is truly no easy feat.
But I kept thinking that Taiwan had the medical skills and facilities required to do the work. It's just that we had to find people who were willing to donate their bone marrow. So, it took great determination to promote bone marrow donation. In October 1993, I traveled to Taidong to see our volunteers there. As I had kept thinking about. As I had kept thinking about promoting bone marrow donation, when I talked to our volunteers,
I mentioned that in our medical mission, there was still something we must do but hadn't because it was quite difficult to do. Hearing that, our volunteers asked me "What is it that is so difficult for you to do?" I replied, "I'd like to set up" "a bone marrow registry" "and encourage people to become marrow donors"
Our volunteers in Taidong were pure and simple, and many of them were older than me. When they heard me say that, they didn't even hesitate and said "If you really want to do this," "then just do it" After Taidong, I went to Pingdong I told our volunteers there the same thing, and they said the same thing as our volunteers in Taidong did. Our volunteers in Kaohsiung also gave me their support.
On October 23, I arrived in Taichung. In my talks with our volunteers there, I told them about my intention of setting up a bone marrow registry. As there were many volunteers in Taichung, I had several talks with them. In every talk when I mentioned the marrow registry, everyone gave me their support. Then, one of our volunteers told me that they were going to told a charity fair in Zhanghua the next day. So, she asked me if they could set up one mare booth to promote bone marrow donation.
I told her that they could give it a try. So, on October 24 of 1993 we held our first bone marrow drive in Zhanghua. That day, over 800 people came and had their blood samples taken. Afterwards, as I traveled northward, I shared the idea with more volunteers. At one marrow drive, over 3,000 people came to have their blood samples drawn. Out volunteers were really ingenious. One volunteer glued pesters on cardboards, carried them on the back of his motorbike, and drove around to recruit potential donors.
Since then, we've been holding marrow drives all cross Taiwan. See how our volunteers promote bone marrow donation in Xiaoliuqiu, an offshore island of Taiwan. There are over 12,000 people there, but only around 6,000 people are eligible to become potential marrow donors. This is because most people there are over 50 years old. so, not many people qualify to become marrow donors.
But Tzu Chi volunteers don't give up, and they still work hard to recruit young people to become potential marrow donors I'm also very grateful to the local health station for their help. People there are truly full of love. Donating bone marrow won't harm our health. With our marrow registry, we've helped many people. Twenty-nine countries have received bone marrow from our registry and over 3,800 lives have been saved. Back when I was thinking about setting up a marrow registry, our elderly volunteers genuinely supported me.
They believed that what I wanted to do was right, so we should just do it. With their encouragement, we did it. It's been over 20 years since the registry was set up. I'm very grateful to see people being saved after receiving a marrow transplant. All this is because many people are willing to give selflessly with their sincere love and courage, as well as a conviction to help others. Such an act of unconditiona giving is really remarkable.
But even when we do good deeds, there are still negative comments about our work. So, the path we've walked is not an easy one. Our workload is heavy and we have encountered many difficulties. It is too heartrending to recall. but seeing how people are helped, we're really very happy.
I'm very moved by the fact that I'm able to be here today. And I hope that more patients who are waiting for help in hospitals can someday also sit here and share their stories like I do.
What impressed me deeply was that even before a match was found for me, as soon as NTU Hospital passed my medical records to Tzu Chi, Tzu Chi volunteers immediately came to see me I thought they had good news for me, but they said they came to see if we needed financial aid and how they could better care for me in the future.
So, Tzu Chi volunteers went to see if you needed financial aid and they gave you NT$50,000 around US$1,000. But after your financial conditions improved, you donated the money you received from Tzu Chi back to Tzu Chi in three installments.
That's right I needed help back then, but I don't need help forever. So, I donated back the money to help the needy.
Thank you very much. If you're 18 or 45 years old, please sign up to become a potential marrow donor so more patients can have more hope to be helped
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