Dis-Belief

Post-transplant day #666.  Dis-Belief.

"I don't believe in organ donation."

I heard that from the rotund, grey-haired, well-dressed man in front me.  As a volunteer yesterday for LiveOnNY's state-wide Registration Day, I was helping man a table in the lobby of NYU Lutheran.  This man had come down with a companion who was at the moment engaged by another volunteer.  And while the woman was warming up to signing a donor registry card, the man was hanging back.  I caught his eye and asked him if he was a registered donor, or would like to register today perhaps?  And then that sentence dropped out of his mouth:  "I don't believe in organ donation."

Mentally, my jaw hit the floor.  I wanted to respond "Well, organ donation believes in you! It might save your life some day, asshole!"  But that kind of comeback doesn't help anything.  I pursued the issue a little bit, introducing myself as a recipient, noting the fact we wouldn't even be talking if it weren't for an unknown soul generously saying YES to this very request.  Well...I just couldn't get through to him.  Even his companion began to razz him a bit, but he stubbornly kept his distance and his silence.

Now, this man was not a patient.  He was not a janitor or security guard or an administrator or technician.  He was a doctor.  And he "doesn't believe in organ donation".

The only higher amount of disbelief I encountered yesterday was my own, when I heard him drop that little bomb.  All of us at the volunteer table were having a hard time not showing our reactions; incredulous to the last volunteer.  We've all done events before.  We've all been told "no" before, and in no uncertain terms.  Often quite bluntly.  But we can mentally write it off as a consequence of misinformation, fear, superstition, religious constraints, or cultural influence.

When confronted with a person who flat-out says "no", we're trained to follow up by asking what "concerns them" about organ donation, just to satisfy our curiosity, and maybe we could answer some questions they might have.  It is all very polite and positive.  But it is amazing how many people, even highly educated people, even medical professionals -- YES, EVEN DOCTORS -- hold misconceptions or irrational fears.  Often we can at least get our information leaflet into their hands and get them to expose their minds to the idea of it... but not this time.... not this time.

I quite disbelieved I'd heard him correctly at first.  Later, I couldn't quite believe our team had had that interaction at all. Was it a test? Was the man an actor and we volunteers were being throw a curve ball as some kind of in-the-field training?  I'd been through RA training in college and the simulations of serious college student problems we were trained with then felt much like what was happening at that moment!  Flabbergasted is a good word here.  And I felt betrayed.  The physicians are supposed to be on OUR side!  Not on the side of whatever phantasms and ignorance makes a person refuse to become an organ donor.

Earlier, we'd had a Reverend come through and he didn't seem to want to sign up, either.  His reservations may have been based in religion, I'm not quite sure.  Was his belief stopping him?  Had he simply not searched that part of his heart?  I could see a struggle between emotion and logic in his face as he took the info and promised to come back.  (We got a lot of that, actually, and really don't expect people will come back later.  After all, we all know the tactics for disengaging from an uncomfortable conversation, yes?)

But... just before we packed up to move to a different venue, the Reverend came back.  And he had filled out and signed the form!  I got the sense this was a breakthrough moment for him.  Yesterday, we actually changed someone's mind about organ donation; dissuaded him from whatever belief held him back.  We walked away from the day with 39 new registrants, contributing to over 1000 new registrants gathered that day by LiveOnNY, but that was maybe the most meaningful one.  Thus, the day was redeemed by one of our last sign-ups.

Yesterday was important in another way, too.  On October 6th, 2014, I used a bus analogy to talk about who does or doesn't get a transplant and the maddeningly arbitrary nature of it all.  As it happens, I showed the post to a fellow volunteer, Samantha, whose sister had unfortunately become a donor a year ago.  Her sister saved four people's lives because she was registered as an organ donor.  (But not even Samantha's story could sway some people, dammit.)

Anyway, I noted in that post that Kenna Taylor was denied transplant and was that day in ICU.  One year ago yesterday.  And then, one year ago today, I recorded in a Facebook post that Kenna had passed away.  (You've been gone a year, Kenna, and I think of you often.  You had a hell of a spirit.)  I also noted that Eryne Shan had received her transplant, so the day was mixed and bittersweet.  I was so thankful Eryne was finally on her way to health.  I didn't know yet - and nobody could have predicted - the complications that would beset her and eventually kill her.  I miss both of these ladies' presence in the CF internet world.  And I just can't believe it's been a year already.

Why do I volunteer for LiveOnNY, especially when it means a lost day's worth of income? Because I must. For all those who have been turned down for transplant because the one common thread in all the Gordian Knots of transplant is that there simply aren't enough donors! I must get out there, man the tables, speak to strangers, shake hands sometimes (and then sanitize), and repeat our stories over and over because... well because my animal mind tells me if there had been just one more donor registered and one more set of lungs used instead of thrown away, maybe Kenna would have been accepted into transplant and lived.

It would actually take a tripling or quadrupling of available organs for transplant centers to cease picking and choosing, but you can't tell your Id that.  The Ego knows the science, the Id doesn't believe in numbers and statistics.  It goes by the heart.  Unfortunately, it is my Id versus Mr Doesn't-Believe's id.  It is my Ego versus my Id. It is my Belief versus my Dis-Belief.

Today, I am reminded that I can't bring back Kenna Taylor or Kyle O'Neil.  As I told a reporter yesterday, 39 new registrants may seem like a drop in the bucket -- but a drop is measurable and each one increases the volume in the bucket.  And I believe if I get enough people signed up over the course of my remaining life, maybe I'll be directly instrumental in saving one more person's life who would otherwise die waiting.  Even just one more!