Debbi, and others:
 
Since Bill has been so gracious to allow this topic to be posted, I am
going to try his patience and hope for one more post on the subject -
although I would hope this topic could stay in everyone's mind.
 
O negative is the universal donor blood, and can only use either O
negative or AB negative, I believe.  My dad was O negative and the
blood bank finally called and asked that he no longer give routine
donations, but wait to be called for emergencies.
 
It is safer today to receive a blood transfusion than at any other time
in history.  Blood donors cannot catch diseases by giving blood.  Not
only is there a shortage of blood donors, but also of bone marrow donors
and organ donors.  To be a bone marrow donor, you need only give a blood
sample, until you match.  At any time you can choose to refuse.  Needed
the most are minority donors.
 
But, how could I refuse knowing that I could save a life?  And, all it
would cost me would be a little time and discomfort?  And, when I no
longer need my organs, everyone in my family knows that they can be
donated.
 
Years ago I found this in a Reader's Digest.  I have carried it with me
since and hope to have it read - found on my person - when I no longer
walk this earth.  I hope you will consider this, too.
 
To Remember Me
by Robert N. Test, Cincinnati Post
 
The day will come when my body will lie upon a white sheet neatly tucked
under four corners of a mattress located in a hospital busily occupied
with the living and the dying.  At a certain moment a doctor will
determine that my brain has ceased to function and that, for all intents
and purposes, my life has stopped.
 
When that happens, do not attempt to instill artificial life into my body
by the use of a machine.  And don't call this my deathbed.  Let it be
called the Bed of Life, and let my body be taken from it to help others
lead fuller lives.
 
Give my sight to the man who has never seen a sunrise, a baby's face or
love in the eyes of a woman.  Give my heart to a person whose own heart
has caused nothing but endless days of pain.  Give my blood to a teenager
who was pulled from the wreckage of his car, so that he might live to see
his grandchildren play.  Give my kidneys to one who depends on a machine
to exist from week to week.  Take my bones, every muscle, every fiber and
nerve in my body and find a way to make a crippled child walk.  Explore
every corner of my brain.  Take my cells, if necessary, and let them grow
so that, someday, a speechless boy will shout at the crack of a bat and a
deaf girl will hear the sound of rain against her window.  Burn what is
left of me and scatter the ashes to the winds to help the flowers grow.
 
If you must bury something, let it be my faults, my weaknesses and all
prejudice against my fellow man.  Give my sins to the devil.  Give my
soul to God.  If, by chance, you wish to remember me, do it with a kind
deed or word to someone who needs you.  If you do all I have asked, I
will live forever.
 
Thanks, Bill.
 
renee :)
 
 
Ferret Aid 2006
June 23 - 25, 2006
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
International Ferret Congress
http://www.ferretcongress.org
[Posted in FML issue 4971]