Sarah Murnaghan's Lesson

Sarah Murnaghan and Parents

Of course we all want Sarah Murnaghan to get a new set of lungs and live.  We want everyone on that transplant list to get transplants and live.  Yes, there are real human lives at stake.  

Perhaps the lesson here is really about viability for transplanting adult lungs into a child--if viable--then equal access for youth and adults alike depending on their severity number.  I know it is not that easily done.  Many differ on the viability issue.  Should lungs be given, for example, if we know they will only last a youth an extra year?  A transplant to wait on a transplant....

The current buzz is to avoid medical panels to make these decisions.  But really--do you want a judge or a medical panel?  God bless Sarah to get her transplant and everyone else to get theirs.  That can only happen if WE step up and put our own names on our licenses to be donors.  For example, you can give a blood sample and be on the list as a potential bone-marrow donor list.  

We see in Sarah the face of human need--ultimately depended on others to live.  That's the lesson for us on any level--ultimately dependent, just the way we came into this world.