Page 152 - 梁文燕紀念中學（沙田）－青苗文集

Helen Liang Memorial Secondary School (Shatin)

Letter To Organ Donor

(Senior Section) 5B Samuel Tam Yuk Ching

Dear Donor,
In retrospect, my experience taught me a valuable life lesson.
There has been a lot of research indicating that those who lead a hectic life
are more prone to health problems. When I was young, I had a yearning for wealth,
so I stayed up all night for part-time jobs. One night, I was working my shift in a
convenience store. It was pouring with rain. I was putting goods into the fridge. All
of a sudden, I fell into darkness. When I woke up again, I was in hospital. Without
any warning, I was told that I had liver failure. The doctor told me that I had to be
admitted into the hospital as quickly as possible and discuss it with my family. My
heart sank. I couldn’t believe it. How could this happen to me? I cried in desperation.
I realised wealth could not buy a fulfilling life. I was going to die, and wealth did not
matter. I had to make a choice – either to count my days in the fight against death
or end my life in my own hands. ‘No more part-time jobs! What is the use of money
when I don’t even have a life?’ I said to myself angrily.
When I was going home by train, I saw an advertisement on the platform. It
wrote: ‘Don’t panic. You’ll never walk alone in the fight of sickness.’ I quickly dialed
the number on the advertisement, hoping someone would understand me, help
me, and take care of me. A man picked up. He said he was a social worker. After
talking to him for a while, he promised he would take care of me only if I finished
his ‘homework’. He wanted me to write a page about the important things that I had
done in my life.
After submitting my ‘homework’, he suggested that I should think of other ways
out. He told me I had so many things unfinished in my life and it would be a waste
not to fight for survival. He told me to follow the doctor’s suggestion and wait for an
organ donor for a liver transplant.
There were just too many people on the list waiting for a transplant. My
condition deteriorated quickly and in a week I was in hospital again. Without a
transplant, I would only have months to live. The social worker came one day, with
a look on his face that I could not understand. He told me that one of his clients was
injured in a traffic accident and was brain dead. Her family was going to pull the
plug, and he knew she had signed up as an organ donor.

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