wfn.org | United Methodists urge saving lives through organ donation

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Oct.  24, 2002 News media contact: Linda Green7(615)742-54707Nashville,
Tenn.	  10-21-71B{487} 

A UMNS Report
By Amy Green*

For Randy Wright, a new kidney means another chance to coach his 11-year-old
daughter in basketball and softball. For the Rev. Pat Buss, it means the
possibility of preaching again.

They were lucky. Many others aren't. 

United Methodists will stress just what a gift a donated organ can be on
Sunday Nov. 10. The denomination will be among those organizing donor drives
and workshops during the month to encourage more donors and teach them they
don't have to be deceased or the ailing one's relative to give up an organ.

"So many people could be helped if people would just sign their donor cards,
said Buss, 47, whose condition forced him to give up his congregation nearly
a year ago at Oakland United Methodist Church in Topeka, Kan. "It's just one
of the best gifts you can give."

More than 80,000 people are on the nation's organ transplant waiting list,
according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). Some
24,000 people received transplants last year, but on average 17 people die
each day while waiting for healthy organs.

Created in 2000, the United Methodist Church's annual Organ and Tissue Donor
Sunday is meant to "get people to be conscious of the gifts God has given us
and the ways that we might be involved in giving to others," said Don
Hayashi, a staff executive with the churchwide General Council on Ministries
in Dayton, Ohio. Churches may observe the day in a variety of ways, perhaps
by mentioning it in their services, organizing special programs or supplying
members with donor cards. It is viewed as a time to gather together around
the issue of life and Thanksgiving.

A week later other denominations will mark the seventh annual National Donor
Sabbath, an interfaith event organized by DHHS. Activities will be similar
to those of the church. 

The efforts are important to Wright, 44, of Dayton, Ohio, who underwent a
transplant in August. His kidneys were damaged during a bone marrow
transplant he received two years ago to treat a blood disease, and they had
grown worse ever since. He had been on dialysis--a grueling treatment that
for Wright lasted three hours a day, three days a week-- for a short time
and knew a transplant would be necessary soon. But he fretted about asking a
friend or relative to be a donor because of the risks.

That's when Kate Roberts volunteered her kidney. Roberts, 57, had known
Wright for years through Sulphur Grove United Methodist Church, Huber
Heights, Ohio, and had always told her children she wanted her organs
donated after her death. But she never considered how she could help her old
friend, until one evening as she drove home from choir practice.

"All of a sudden there was this thought in my brain--you could be a kidney
donor," said Roberts, who is senior director of development for the Ohio
Foundation of Independent Colleges. I know at that time that God put that on
my heart."

She researched the surgery and underwent some medical tests but never
worried about the risks, believing her faith would keep her safe. She and
Wright now are nearly recovered from the surgery, and Wright said he is
growing stronger each day. But he still finds Roberts' generosity
remarkable.

"I don't know how I could thank her enough," said Wright, a pharmacist. "I
mean, how do you thank someone for a kidney?"

Pat Buss is equally grateful to his close friend Jud Webster. Buss'
inherited kidney disease had forced him on dialysis for 18 months, and he
was crushed to give up his congregation. He had languished on the organ
waiting list for months and probably would have remained there for two or
three years without Webster.

Buss had known Webster, 54, since he was a student pastor years ago at
Ellison Avenue United Methodist Church in El Reno, Okla. He and his wife had
grown close to the Websters over the years, even after moving to Kansas, but
he wasn't prepared when Webster called one evening to volunteer for a kidney
transplant.

"In fact, I had to call him back later in the evening to apologize for not
being so gracious," Buss said with a laugh. "I was just so thunderstruck."

The two underwent surgery in September and are still are recuperating. 

Webster, director of operations for the El Reno public school district, said
he felt good just watching his friend's complexion, which had grown ashen
white before the surgery, turn rosy pink in the days afterward.

"I was just really elated I could help somebody out like that," he said.

Medical advances have made more people eligible for transplants, but there
are not enough donated organs to meet the demand, DHHS spokesman Dennis
Wagner said. Awareness efforts by the United Methodist Church and other
denominations are especially important because while many people would
readily donate an organ, they just haven't signed a donor card. Others
mistakenly believe that Christian teachings forbid organ donation.    

Buss marked Organ and Tissue Donor Sunday last year with his church by
preaching on the subject and distributing brochures from a nearby transplant
center. The congregation also held a blood drive. He said his transplant has
given him a new life.

"I was awfully sick before the surgery," he said. "As soon as I get over
this surgery, I'll probably be better than I have been for the last five or
10 years . . . It's just going to be a new world, one that I haven't
experienced in a long time."

# # #
*Green is a free-lance writer in Nashville, Tenn. She formerly covered
religion for the Associated Press.

*************************************
United Methodist News Service
Photos and stories also available at:
http://umns.umc.org