News From the Nursery Lab III

While this is not precisely a lab story, it does concern some of my fellow lab workers.

We have "runners" who spend their work day walking all over the hospital on designated routes, picking up blood samples or other various things that need to be taken from one place to another. In fact, one of the prerequisites for the job is the ability to walk 15 miles per day.

Of course all of the runners are thin.

One of the runners is a woman originally from one of the islands in the South Pacific. About a year ago she had a kidney transplant. It was a surprise to me when I heard about it, for she'd never missed work in huge time blocks, but apparently she was quite ill and toughing it out as much as possible. She was in dire need of a kidney donor. Her family was willing - she has two brothers - but apparently childhood illnesses had ruled them out as potential donors.

One of the other runners seems to know almost everyone in the hospital. One day, these two runners were at break, chatting with some of the other folks they knew.

Mention was made to the lady whose job at the hospital is to take care of all the plants that decorate common areas within the hospital. The lady was surprised to hear about the need for a transplant. She asked the usual questions about family, friends, or other potential donors.

The well-known runner said, "We're just going to have to begin asking people if they would be interested in donating a kidney to (the friend)."

The friend said that it might come to that because she was going to have to start dialysis quite soon or she would begin lose her health.

Some days later, the runner was notified that a match had been found. The flower lady had secretly gone and gotten tested and amazingly, was a perfect match. A PERFECT match.

The surgery was done without delay. Both ladies came through their respective surgeries with flying colors. The donated kidney is working wonderfully. The hospital was so moved by the spirit of generosity shown by this complete stranger to a fellow employee, they did not take away the donor's sick time or pay. And, the donor was taken on a special vacation to the South Pacific to meet the runner's family, for in some special way, she is now a member of that family as well.

And, once again, I see a glimmer of hope for the human race, when there are still people like the flower lady.