by T.J. Maciak

Joyce 譯

An Act of Giving Truly Changes—and Saves—Lives

拯救生命的給予

by T.J. Maciak

Joyce 譯

Track 4

大多數(shù)的人總是傾向于臨渴挖井而非居安思危，總覺得那些不幸之事不會降臨到自己身上，但是大家有沒有想過，也許有一天躺在病床上苦苦等待別人救助的會變成我們自己或者我們親友？

I am one of the fortunate ones and now it’s my turn to help others.

我是那些幸運(yùn)兒之一，現(xiàn)在輪到我去幫助別人了。

I just recently returned from an amazing trip to Durban, South Africa where I participated in the 19th World Transplant Games. I have been competing in the Transplant Games since 1996. I am not the most skilled athlete by any stretch of the imagination but the fact that I am able to compete is what matters. You see, the summer after 4th grade I failed a sports physical. I had protein in my urine. I had a1)biopsydone at the Detroit Children’s Hospital and was diagnosed with kidney disease.

Life was pretty tough as a youngster; every week it seemed like I was visiting a doctor and it wasn’t my idea of fun. As time went on and my condition was stable, the weekly visits turned into monthly visits, then into yearly checkups. Then came the day that would forever change who I am…

It was the end of September of my senior year of high school and I almost died. My kidneys suddenly, without warning, went into end stage2)renal failureand I was in a coma for four days. My new life consisted of many hospital visits because I was now in need of3)dialysistreatments to stay alive. Dialysis was extremely hard for me as an 18-year-old. Not only did my body not tolerate the treatments very well but it was tough to see other people, some my newfound friends, doing dialysis at the same time with me and then not show up one day because they succumbed to the harshness of kidney disease.

In the years since being diagnosed with kidney disease I have had two kidney transplants, graduated from college twice (undergraduate and graduate degrees), and have traveled all over the world, thanks to both professional opportunities and being part of the transplant community and competing in the Transplant Games. It’s hard to think back on that time in my life and think I am that person who went through all of those struggles, but I know I am.

我最近進(jìn)行了一次奇妙的旅行，剛從南非的德班回來，我在那里參加了第19屆世界移植運(yùn)動會。自1996年起，我就一直有參加這個移植運(yùn)動會。無論怎么看，我都絕對稱不上是個運(yùn)動健將，但是我可以參加比賽這一事實(shí)才是最重要的。你看，在四年級結(jié)束后的那個夏天，我沒有辦法參加體育運(yùn)動。我的尿液里面含有蛋白質(zhì)。我在底特律兒童醫(yī)院進(jìn)行了活組織切片檢查，結(jié)果診斷出我患有腎病。

那時的生活對于一個青少年來說相當(dāng)?shù)钠D難；似乎我每周都要去看一次醫(yī)生，而這在我看來一點(diǎn)兒也不好玩。隨著時間的推移，我的情況有所穩(wěn)定，每周一次的看病變?yōu)槊吭乱淮危缓笞兂闪嗣磕暌淮蔚臋z查。然后我迎來了徹底改變我人生的那天……

那是在我高中最后一年的九月末，我差點(diǎn)就死了。我的腎沒有任何預(yù)警地進(jìn)入了腎衰竭末期，我昏迷了整整四天。我的新生活包含了多次的醫(yī)院造訪，因?yàn)槲耶?dāng)時需要通過透析治療來活命。透析對當(dāng)時的我—一個十八歲的小伙子來說相當(dāng)?shù)睦щy。不僅我的身體沒法很好地忍受這些治療，而且看到其他人—我一些新交的朋友—和我一起做著透析，然后有一天卻不再出現(xiàn)，因?yàn)樗麄冚斀o了殘酷的腎病，這對我來說非常痛苦。

被確診患有腎病之后的這些年里，我接受過兩次腎移植手術(shù)，從大學(xué)畢業(yè)了兩次（本科和碩士學(xué)位），同時多虧了工作機(jī)會以及以移植手術(shù)康復(fù)患者的身份參與移植運(yùn)動會，我還游遍了全世界?；叵肫鹞疑械哪嵌稳兆樱肫鹞揖褪悄莻€經(jīng)受過這么多困難的那個人，這很痛苦，但我知道，那就是我。

1) biopsy [?ba??ps?] n. 活組織檢查，活組織切片檢查

2) renal failure 腎衰竭

3) dialysis [da???l?s?s] n. 透析

Now I know that my role in life isn’t to dominate in sports, but to try to educate people on the importance of organ donation. Because of the anonymous gift of life that somebody gave to me, my donor—my hero, I am still here today and having a wonderful life. Not everyone is as fortunate as I am though, so I feel it is my responsibility to try to spread the word, so people understand that there are more than 115,000 people in the United States awaiting the gift of life right today. Sadly not all of these people are fortunate to make it to the day where they can receive a transplant because there are not enough donors.

If you haven’t signed up yet to become an organ donor I suggest you think about how you might be able to help somebody out someday with the most important gift of all. It is also possible that someday you, a close friend or a family member could be one of the unfortunate ones waiting for somebody else to register to be an organ donor so you can see why educating people about the importance of organ donation helps everyone out. If you were touched by my story then please register to become an organ, eye or tissue donor today and help me spread the word!

Organ donation is an act of giving that truly does change—and save—lives.

如今，我知道我的人生角色不是要在體育世界中大放異彩，而是要努力去讓人們認(rèn)識到器官捐贈的重要性。因?yàn)槟澄粺o名氏贈與了我生命的禮物，因?yàn)槲业木栀浾摺业挠⑿郏医裉觳诺靡栽谶@里，擁有一段美妙的人生。但是，不是每個人都能像我這么幸運(yùn)，所以我覺得我有責(zé)任去宣傳，去讓人們了解到，今天，美國有十一萬五千多人在等待著“生命的禮物”。令人難過的是，這些人并不都能幸運(yùn)地等到接受移植手術(shù)的那天，因?yàn)闆]有足夠的器官捐贈者。

如果你還沒有登記成為一位器官捐贈者，我建議你考慮一下，也許某天你能以這份最為珍貴的禮物幫助某人渡過難關(guān)。也許某天，你、你的好朋友或者你的親人會變成那些不幸之人之一，等待著他人登記成為器官捐贈者，所以你能看到，教育人們認(rèn)識到器官捐贈的重要性為何能幫到每一個人。如果你被我的故事打動了，那么請在今天就去登記成為一位器官、眼睛或者身體組織捐贈者，幫助我宣傳器官捐贈！

器官捐贈是一個能真正改變?nèi)松⒄壬慕o予之舉。

世界移植運(yùn)動會

世界移植運(yùn)動會是專門以接受過器官移植手術(shù)的康復(fù)患者為參賽選手的運(yùn)動會，隸屬于奧林匹克大家庭，因此也被稱作移植界的奧運(yùn)會，其舉辦目的在于幫助器官移植受者康復(fù)和回歸社會，提高他們的生命質(zhì)量，喚起公眾的器官捐贈意識。世界移植運(yùn)動會始于1978年，由英國的一名醫(yī)生莫里斯所組織，比賽地點(diǎn)在英國的樸茨茅斯。從1994年起每兩年舉辦一屆，全世界66個國家、數(shù)以萬計的各類器官移植受者曾參加了以往運(yùn)動會。運(yùn)動會包括從4至80歲所有年齡的參賽者，有大約50項(xiàng)比賽項(xiàng)目，包括田徑、游泳、乒乓球、羽毛球、高爾夫、排球和自行車等。