I saw this post on Facebook, and somebody needed urgently liver transplant, and I dont even know that somebody. But somehow I felt a prompt in my heart, that I needed to respond to this call for donation. I think its not easy for the family, especially when somebodys declared that he has only seven days left. So there was this prompting, this heavy burden on me that I needed to respond, even though it was a stranger.
When I went for the briefing thing by the surgeons, they told me about the risk that I had to take out 70% of my liver, my gall bladder, so post-ops I would somehow put on weight because gall bladder is removed. And then theres 1% mortality rate. It was 1% of hundred will die on operating table. There are also side effects to the medication. Some people become bald and then some people will have diabetes and have that pleasure. I had to bring my mom down,cause I needed the next of kin to have consent to this. Mom was OK. She knows that since I was young I wanted to help someone. I told her, when I was very young, if I died, donate all my organs, and, yeah, so she knows that, yeah, I have to do this. So I got the full support from my mom.
There wasnt any fear, because I…OK 1% is not very high, and to me, I needed to do what was more important to save a life, not be so concerned about the side effects and the mortality rate.
The operation was on Friday itself. Mine was about nine hours. They had to open me up, take my liver, and then, while Im being stitched back, had to operate on Mr. Toh, so was side by side. The whole operation lasted about 20 hours.
Since secondary school days my foreign teacher, Miss Yup, shes very active in volunteer work, so she will bring us to childrens home, to old folks home. Thats where I learn about helping others. I know I cannot help a lot, I cannot help the entire world, if I can just help one, make a difference in one, to me thats enough. A lot of people think I had a good job in police force, why did I leave to become a social worker, become volunteer. I think the priorities are different in my life, so its not about getting cash and cars and everything. I think its beyond that as a purpose in all our lives.
我在臉譜網(wǎng)上看到這個(gè)帖子,說(shuō)有人急需肝移植,而我甚至都不認(rèn)識(shí)這個(gè)人。但出于某種原因,我的心被觸動(dòng)了一下,我覺(jué)得我必須回應(yīng)這個(gè)捐肝的請(qǐng)求。我覺(jué)得這事兒對(duì)這個(gè)家庭來(lái)說(shuō)肯定很艱難,特別是家里有人被宣布只能活七天了。所以盡管這完全是一個(gè)陌生人,我還是覺(jué)得心里動(dòng)了一下,覺(jué)得很沉重,必須要回應(yīng)。
我去聽(tīng)外科醫(yī)生介紹情況的時(shí)候,他們告訴我把70%的肝臟切除和切除膽囊的風(fēng)險(xiǎn),所以術(shù)后因?yàn)闆](méi)有了膽囊,我可能會(huì)胖起來(lái);手術(shù)的死亡率是1%,我有1%的機(jī)會(huì)會(huì)死在手術(shù)臺(tái)上;另外,我服用的藥物也會(huì)有副作用,有些人會(huì)因此變禿頂,有些會(huì)有患上糖尿病的“美好體驗(yàn)”。我還要把我媽媽帶過(guò)來(lái),因?yàn)槲倚枰兄毕涤H屬的同意才能手術(shù)。我媽媽對(duì)此沒(méi)有意見(jiàn),因?yàn)樗牢覐男【拖霂椭鷦e人。我在年輕的時(shí)候曾經(jīng)跟她說(shuō)過(guò),如果我死了,就把我所有的器官都捐獻(xiàn)出去。所以她明白我一定會(huì)走這一步。她全力支持我。
我并不覺(jué)得害怕,因?yàn)槲摇?%的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)并不是很高,對(duì)我來(lái)說(shuō),更重要的是拯救生命,而不是為手術(shù)的副作用和死亡率過(guò)分擔(dān)心。
手術(shù)是在星期五進(jìn)行的,我的手術(shù)長(zhǎng)達(dá)大概九個(gè)小時(shí)。他們要給我開(kāi)膛,取我的肝臟進(jìn)行手術(shù),然后在幫我縫合的時(shí)候,他們同時(shí)要給陶先生做手術(shù),當(dāng)時(shí)我倆的手術(shù)臺(tái)是并排的,整個(gè)手術(shù)大概持續(xù)了二十個(gè)小時(shí)。
在我上中學(xué)的時(shí)候,當(dāng)時(shí)教外語(yǔ)的葉老師對(duì)做志愿者工作很積極,她會(huì)帶我們到兒童福利院、老人院。我正是從她那里學(xué)會(huì)幫助別人的。我明白我不可能幫助很多人,不可能幫助全世界的人,即使我只能給一個(gè)人以幫助,讓一個(gè)人的生活發(fā)生變化,對(duì)我來(lái)說(shuō)已經(jīng)足夠了。許多人覺(jué)得我原來(lái)當(dāng)警察,有一份好工作,為什么要離開(kāi)去當(dāng)一名社工,當(dāng)志愿者呢。我覺(jué)得生活中我最看重的事情與別人不一樣,就是與賺錢(qián)、買(mǎi)車(chē)和其他東西沒(méi)有關(guān)系。我覺(jué)得我們?nèi)松囊饬x超越了這些。