Imagine you were the mother of two girls, one suffered from acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) and the other filed a lawsuit to request for termination of what she was supposed to do. What would you react in this dilemma? This was what the novel “My Sister’s Keeper” was about.
Sara was a mother of three children, Jesse, Kate and Anna. When Kate was two, she was diagnosed as APL, a malignant cancer with low five-year survival rate. To save her daughter, Sara and her husband Brian conceived, by in vitro fertilization, their younger daughter Anna, who genetically matched with Kate. Within thirteen years, Kate received Anna’s umbilical cord blood, lymphocyte and bone marrow to improve her immune system, which has been destroyed by chemotherapy. Unfortunately, Kate’s health still irrevocably deteriorated. After treated with arsenic for a while, her kidney dys-functioned and what she desperately needed was a fully functioned kidney to save her life. Although Sara, Brian and even Jesse wished they could be the donors, Anna’s kidney was the only one to match Kate’s. However, just before the transplant surgery, Anna filed the lawsuit to petition a medical emancipation. It was like a bomb in the family. As a matter of fact, what Anna really requested was making her won decision rather than stopping to donate her organs to her sister. In addition, when she was standing in the court to testify herself, she uncovered the secret that it was Kate’s who wished to decide her own life path since she was so sick of being hospitalized, being bald, seeing her friend die and leading an abnormal life. Kate tried to kill herself for several times in vain when thinking of the hurt and tragedy her death would bring to the family, especially to Sara the Mom and the fighter at the same time. The court eventually approved Anna’s request after several rounds of investigation, presentation and argument. While people immersed the enjoyment of love and being loved, understanding and being understood, respect to each other’s choices, Anna unexpectedly run into a car accident and became brain-dead. After her kidney being taken for Kate and some of her other organs being donated to patients who needed, Anna walked into another world with peace and dignity. With Anna’s kidney, Kate lived a longer life. She believed it was Anna rather than the kidney itself that really supported her.
It was a touching yet sad story about the quandary of quality of life versus sanctity of life. As a mom, Sara loved both of them. However, it was like one of her daughter was in a burning house, she herself had nothing to do but send the capable one in though she clearly realized how dangerous it was. No one was qualified to decide which of them were more important. There was no best way to fairly benefit the interest on both sides. Believe in that love was always much more important than law.
My memory washes over to several days ago now. My friend's wife, a 34-year-old beautiful young lady, was suffering rheumatoid arthritis, a kind of autoimmune disease, and severe endosalpingosis, which caused unbearable periodic pelvic pain. They decided to surgically ablate all uterus and oviduct. As a result, they would never have their own biological babies. I feel really sorry for them except doing my best to comfort and encourage them. Wasn't it a God’s misplay? I should not complain more. I appreciate that I am still able to keep all my five essential balls of life (Ref: 40hutu’s blog) rolling smoothly, if not perfectly.
Yes, I agree with you. So living everyday like you were dying tomorrow. Living everyday with forgiveness, happiness and appreciation.