Last modified: 11 May 2000
Dick Murray had the most beautiful eyes. They were a rich, vibrant blue, but the color wasn't the only thing that made his eyes so striking. Windows on the soul, Dick's eyes displayed his goodness. I, for one, always felt, on coming into his presence, that when Dick lloked my way he saw more than others mmight have seen. His eyes were beautiful because they saw what was beautiful in the ordinary people and events that made up his life. Dick had a special way of seeing, and there was no happiness quite like being seen by him.
Dick Murray, age 53, died of a heart attack this winter. At his funeral at St. Mary's Church in Hanover, his stalwart, brave father, Joe Murray, preached a eulogy. It was a worthy tribute to Dick, and he concluded by reminding us of Dick's eyes. And then he said--somewhat conventionally, I thought-- that Dick wasn't entirely dead.
But Joe Murray wasn't thinking at that moment of the resurrection. He said: "Dick's eyes live on because he donated them to the organ bank. I'm told that this morning some formerly blind person is seeing this beautiful world throught Dick's eyes."
There was an audible gasp in that crowded church as we all simultan- eously beheld the wonders not only of modern medicine but also of human gen- erosity. Dick's eyes still alive, still beautiful, still seeing beauty: a blind person seeing-- what a shock of happiness we felt. And more than a few of us resolved on the spot finally to find out more about organ donation and to arrange it for ourselves.
Last September Nicholas Green, age 7, was vacationing with his parents in Italy when the family was assaulted by bandits. Nicholas was shot and killed. His parents donated his organs, and seven different young people were recipients, a dramatic instance of the fact that a single donor can save the lives of many people. All over Italy there was, as it were, an audible gasp as a nation beheld people. All over Italy there was, as it were, an audible gasp as a nation beheldwhat friends and family of Dick Murray had beheld at St. Mary's--the wonder of this gift, the rightness of it.
The Greens have become national heroes in Italy--last week they were awarded Italy's highest civil decoration. More remarkably, organ donation has increased dramatically in Italy, perhaps by as much as 25 percent, a phenomenon Italian doctors have dubbed "The Green Effect."
This past weekend there was a donor recognition ceremony in Washington DC, a gathering of the families of organ donors. The Greens were there. So was Chester Szuber and his family. He is a Tennessee resident whose daughter, a adult, was recently killed in a car wreck. Szuber received his daughter's heart.
This ceremony anticipates "National Organ and Tissue Donor Awareness Week" April 16 -22, an observance designed to promote awareness of the critical need for organ donors. Today, in America, there are 40,000 people waiting for life-saving organs--kidney, lung, pancreas, heart, liver or small bowel. Many thousands of other people are waiting for corneas, heart valves, bone, skin or saphenous veins.
Only persons who die in special circumstances, leaving viable organs, make up the so-called "donor pool," but of that number only a minority actually donate their organs. Last year the pool was 10,000 to 15,000, of whom only 5,000 were donors. Every day, eight people die waiting for a transplant.
The gasp of recognition that greeted Joe Murray's announcement that Dick's eyes were still alive, and that has swept through Italy since Nicholas Green's donation, is a consequence, in part, of the fact that the idea of organ donation is still too exotic and unusual. Laws encourage organ recycl- ing. The major religious traditions endorse it as an ultimate way of loving one's neighbor. The medical community is looking for ways to better coordinate and streamline the transplant process. It is time for organ donation to become as common--and unremarkable--as blood donation.
There are two things all of us can do to make this happen. One is to seriously consider becoming organ donors ourselves. If we decide to do so, we must first and most importantly discuss our desire with our families, because hospitals will ask for the consent of the next of kin. To facilitate both this discussion with family, and the response of emergency medical personnel, a uniform donor card is useful. Ask your relatives to sign as your witnesses. You can obtain such a card from the New England Organ Bank (1 Gateway Center, Washington Street at Newton Corner, Newton, MA 02158. The toll-free number is (800)466-6362).
The second thing we can all do is to be prepared, if a loved one dies, for an immediate discussion of the possibility of organ transplant with medical personnel. Until now, one of the most inhibiting factors has been the understandable reluctance of doctors to intrude on a family's grief. We must all develop the attitude that a proposal of organ donation, far from an intrusion on grief, is a mitigation of i.
Last week Christopher Colin, age 15, was hit and killed by a car in Fort Smith, Ark. Christopher was the oldest of three children, but he was more than his mother's helper. Sally Colin had particularily depended on her son because she was blind. Upon his death, Christopher's heart, liver, kidneys and lungs went to five different people across the nation. And one of his corneas went to his mother, who now can see. "He kept his word," Sally Colin said. "He promised, 'Mama, I'll never leave you, and I'll always be your eyes.' "
James Carroll's column appears regularly in the Globe.
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Last modified:
11 May 2000