|
TWO days after little Bryan Liu’s story first appeared in The New Paper, my colleague, Chai Hung Yin, rang me.
“I got calls from a few readers,” she said excitedly. “They want to donate to Bryan.”
Thinking that they wanted to donate money to the boy’s family to help with the medical bills, I told her to put
them in touch with Bryan’s mother.
“No, no, no,” she insisted, “they want to donate their kidneys, not money.”
I was dumbfounded. These people wanted to give their kidneys to a stranger’s child? Could we be sure they
were not pulling a fast one?
Pardon my cynicism.
Whenever The New Paper runs a report about a chronically-ill person, readers offer to donate money and
items such as groceries and furniture.
But a kidney? That was hard to believe.
In my nine years as a journalist, I’ve never come across people who offer to put their health at risk to help
a sick stranger. (Granted, not every sick person needs an organ transplant.)
The six readers who responded, including one from across the Causeway, all wanted to go ahead with the transplant, fully aware of the risks.
Unfortunately, none had a blood type that matched Bryan’s. They didn’t know this till we told them.
End of story? Poor Bryan would just have to stay on the waiting list for a kidney?
No. The heartwarming story does not end there.
After The New Paper published a report about the six readers on June 14 and mentioned Bryan’s blood type,
19 more kind souls came forward.
Although their blood group matched Bryan’s, they would still have to go for further tests to see if their
kidneys are a match for the boy.
Last month, The New Paper’s hotline was flooded with offers from readers wishing to donate money to a
penniless grief-stricken widow with three young kids.
They responded yet again after reading about a seven-year-old stroke victim. There have been several
more examples over the years.
Singaporeans have sometimes been accused of only knowing how to give money and not knowing how to help
in other ways when it comes to the less fortunate. I held that view, too – until the reaction to Bryan’s plight.
So what is it about this four-year-old boy that galvanises total strangers to react with such extraordinary kindness?
The cynical might suggest that such donors merely want to make themselves feel good.
Nothing wrong with that, if you ask me.
The fact is, by donating their kidneys, they know they are putting their lives on the line.
What’s more, all of them said they would also be willing to donate to another patient on the national waiting list.
Sure, some may get cold feet later. But the important thing is that people are coming forward.
Even if it’s just one willing donor, it gives hope that one more life might be saved.
Let’s hope that such exemplary acts of self-sacrifice, courage and kindness do not stop with Bryan’s story.
|