The 15th Anniversary of Tzu Chi's Bone Marrow Registry每日播出內容 ｜ 
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人間菩提--骨髓庫十五年紀事
Life is truly wondrous.
What we see truly expresses the compassion the Buddha spoke of to care ever for strangers and feel their suffering as one's own.
Although these patients are not related to us by blood no matter where they are.
We're still able to save their lives.
When we first set up our bone marrow registry 15 years ago, it was not easy to recruit potential donors.
(due to the misconception among the public)
(that it would hurt the donors' health)
A lot of people in
"How can we donate that?"
"You have to draw that from our spinal cord?"
It was truly very difficult to recruit donors.
Fifteen years ago, many people said that setting up a bone marrow registry would require at least NT$200 million.
Thinking back, I was truly daring (to still do it)
I felt that life is priceless.
The value of saving a life was not something that could be assessed in monetary terms.
Moreover, if a registry could be set up, this show of love by the Taiwanese people could in turn inspire people in other countries.
Most importantly setting up such a registry would save lives.
I believe in the doctors' assurances that donating marrow would not harm the donors' health.
I would never do something that would save one life yet hurt the other.
That's something we should never do.
(I believed that such a conclusion)
(must have been very carefully confirmed)
(by medical professionals)
(after much research had been conducted)
As I often say, faith is the mother of all virtues.
( We must have wisdom and)
(use our wisdom to make the correct judgment call)
So, though setting up the registry meant a lot of pressure both financially and mentally.
However, I held onto my belief that
(since doctors had published the results)
(of their research and had started performing)
bone marrow transplants for patients.
I had no reason not to believe in it.
So, I firmly committed to setting up the registry.
I am also very grateful to Tzu Chi volunteers who have been giving me their full support for whatever I decide to do.
That's why I often say that I don't know what kind of karmic affinity.
We had formed in our previous lives so that all these people are willing to follow me believe in me, and give me their support.
That is what I am most grateful for.
No words can ever express the deep gratitude I feel.
Looking back to when our volunteers were spreading the word about bone marrow donation they truly went through a lot of difficulties.
But there were also a lot of interesting stories.
There was an elderly bodhisattva who had gone to the market to spread the word about bone marrow donation.
How was she going to explain that to people?
Being in her seventies, how was she going to explain the concept which involves abstruse medical knowledge?
So, she simply yelled out in the middle of the market:
"People need help! People need help!"
So, people quickly rushed over and asked:
"What's wrong?"
She said, "I can't explain it. Just follow me"
Then she led the crowd to our marrow donor drive where younger volunteers would explain to them:
"This elderly bodhisattva"
"wants to call on everyone"
"to become a bone marrow donor"
When people asked what that was our volunteers led them to the area where an explanation was being given.
One of our Tzu Cheng members also walked around wearing signboards on his front and back all the while hollering the message through an amplifier.
What an ingenious thing to do.
That's what our Tzu Chi volunteers are like.
How can I not be grateful?
Look at this photo.
Fifteen years ago, how were we to promote bone marrow donation?
We needed to have a poster who could be our model for the poster?
We needed to find a real patient.
The patient we turned to was Qi-qi who was then receiving treatment at National Taiwan University Hospital (NTUH).
At the time, she was two years old.
She was born with Down syndrome and later, she was diagnosed with acute myelocytic leukemia.
So, Tzu Chi volunteers asked Ms. Chen, a teacher, to ask Qi-qi's parents if they'd let us put Qi-qi's photo on our poster.
No parent would want to expose her child to the public like this.
However, in order to save their child as well as many others around the world with the same disease.
Qi-qi's parents agreed.
(to let us use Qi-qi's photo)
See, Qi-qi is already 17 years old now and she is very healthy.
Moreover, her mental faculties have also improved and she is in the twelfth grade now.
I didn't know how long she could live for.
But a thought flashed through my mind that maybe her mission in life was to be a model for Tzu Chi's bone marrow donation poster.
But she has survived and has been very healthy.
I think it's due to everyone's well-wishes.
See, those who help others are actually helping themselves.
This is a cycle of love.
Having set up the bone marrow registry and worked tirelessly to hold bone marrow donation drives soon our registry became known to the world.
At one point, staff from a bone marrow registry in
and why it was that we were able to recruit so many potential donors and have such a large databank.
From the moment we embarked on the project.
(there were all kinds of difficulties to overcome)
When a match was found with a registered donor who had originally registered without really understanding what marrow donation was about
(he may not be willing to donate)
Some matched donors may have gone out of the country or moved abroad because it had been many years since they first registered as a donor.
In some cases, it's the parents.
So, when a match is found, we have to look for the registered donors convince them to donate, as well as care for them throughout the donation process.
See, it truly isn't an easy task.
So, I'm truly very grateful to all Tzu Chi volunteers for their love that is as pure as water in a clear river that reaches far and wide.
See how their love is "deep to the bone"
It's truly not easy.
The workings of the human body are wondrous.
We don't know the people we are helping.
All we have in mind is kindness, compassion, and joyous giving as we feel their pain as our very own although we are not related to them by blood.
When a match has been found, we must make sure that the person is willing to donate with a joyful heart.
That is not an easy job.
But, through our efforts, we are able to change people's perspective on marrow donation.
It's been 15 years. (In recent years) the number of transplants through our registry has increased greatly.
From two to three a year, now, it's sometimes two or three a day.
So, over the past 15 years, over 1,700 people have received transplants with bone marrow donated by people registered in our databank.
No one knows the patients personally and yet everyone gives of themselves because of the compassion of feeling for others' suffering even if they're strangers.
I'm truly very grateful for the love that is shown.
Yesterday, over 300 of our volunteers gathered together to commemorate the 15th anniversary of our bone marrow registry.
(as well as to receive training)
(to be a certified lecturer for training)
(more volunteers on our care team)
Of course it's not the case that anyone can be in the team so long as they're enthusiastic about it.
Because our registry is now seeking an internationally recognized certification, those on our care team need to receive extra training.
That's why they are having a 3-day training.
Today, they are listening to lecturers at our International Conference Hall.
But everyone must learn mindfully.
Tzu Chi volunteers need to be even something like this that's to do with abstruse medical knowledge.
I'm truly very grateful.
These living bodhisattvas truly move me beyond words can describe.
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人間菩提英文版"刊登網站: http://master-dharma.blogspot.com/
Regards, Jenny
Today's Jing Si Aphorisms: Only those who respect themselves have the courage to be humble.
今日靜思語: 唯有尊重自己的人, 才能勇於縮小自己.
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