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]