The ARDS Foundation - Body, Mind, & Spirit

By Pastor Ian

The Gift of Life

The year 2002 is giving up its last few days to the history books. As I write these few words, people all around the world, my own loved ones included, are on vacation, many of them reflecting on the year that has just slipped past. For those of us in the ARDS community, we are joyfully celebrating the successes of people who battled and defeated the syndrome. We have also experienced grief for those who were overcome and whose light in the world has been dimmed.

I want Body Mind and Spirit to end the year on a positive note that will carry us forward into 2003, so I am sharing this good-news story with you. My daughter Jacqui who is spending her vacation with us brought it to me. It concerned a young woman slightly younger than my daughter whose life was about to be cut short by lung disease. How can we empathize with those who are so debilitated they even become tired due to the 'effort' of brushing their teeth? The simple answer is: "We can't."

For the victims of severe lung disease, normal activities like running, cycling, walking, and skating would come close to the top of a long list of things that they cannot do yet dream of doing someday.

Now here is the good news: Thanks to the courage of an organ donor's family and the skill of a team of surgeons, a young woman, let's call her Pat, has received a new lease on life through donor transplant. In a few short months her life has been transformed. She is now able to do all of the things she could prior to illness, and many more besides. Even more importantly, she is able to pass on her gifts to others, especially the gift of hope.

Good news? Of course it is. More and more people each and every year are able to lead normal productive lives thanks to these miraculous advances in medical science and anti-rejection drug therapy; the kind of miracles which we pray for regularly.

The problem of ARDS is not one that will be solved through organ transplant. It will however, be solved through improved drug therapies. These take time and money to develop, and time is something that an ARDS patient in crisis does not possess. Those persons who survived the ARDS trauma this year did so thanks to rapid diagnosis and intervention thanks to advances in the knowledge and treatment of this syndrome.

I forget whom it was who said: "Knowledge is Power." The sharing of treatment options by medical specialists through the "ARDS Network" is a vital step in finding new and better ways to combat this killer affecting, it is estimated, 165,000 persons each year across North America and Canada. If the average patient treatment in hospital costs $500,000 then ARDS is costing over $80 Billion per annum to combat; a huge amount. The only way that the survival rate is going to be significantly increased, and case costs reduced, is through well-funded research that is quickly and effectively shared among those who are called to treat the illness.

Good News is something we all enjoy. Knowing that in some small way we might have contributed to saving the life of another is the best of news. If you are reading this article then it almost certainly means you, your family and friends have been touched by ARDS. This personal experience places you in a unique position to inform others of its gravity and effects. We invite you to become proactive in helping us to make more good news days during 2003 for families across North America.

Send your e-mail letters through our Contact Form saying simply:

"I want to bring The Gift of Life and Good News to someone else. Here is the e-mail address of a company (with a contact name and title) or friend/s who also wish to help." If everyone reading this article invites private and corporate donations to the ARDS Foundation (a registered charity, 501(c)(3)) it will make a huge difference to our success. Please understand that the larger the initiative we can mount the more good news stories we will be able to create in lives around the world.

The young woman Pat in {my} HER story, is moving into a new year filled with promise. Her life has been renewed and forever changed thanks to a gift from a friend she will never meet. There are thousands of "Pat's" who have received the gift of life, and we joyfully share with them that they have been selected to become living proof that out of sadness can come joy.

Throughout the coming year of 2003, I wish you all, health in Body, clarity of Mind and joyfulness in Spirit. May you feel called to help our efforts in providing the Gift of Life to others.