Oh Negative

I experienced something new today. While I want to tell you about it because it's a part of the Turkish culture, I'm also sad to tell you about it because it involves a life-threatening disease.

The Turkish system for donating blood is different than the American system. Their system works much like a bank. If a person becomes ill or in need of a blood transfusion, he is only allowed to use the amount of blood which he has deposited to the blood bank. If he needs more than he has deposited then he is responsible for finding friends and family that can donate blood on his behalf.

Yesterday, we received a mass email from a Turkish pastor letting us know that a local Turkish believer was just recently diagnosed with Leukemia. The email also went on to say that this brother was in desperate need of O negative blood to do a blood transfusion after chemo. If you know anything about O negative blood then you know that it is very rare (only 7% of the world population has it). People with O negative blood can only receive blood from other O negative donors. I know all this because I am part of that 7%.

Today, Zach, Eli, Noah, our two guests, and I went down to the blood center at Gazi University Hospital. The Turkish pastor greeted us at the entrance and informed us they had only found three other "O negatives" to donate, but two of them were "weeded out" due to recent surgeries and other complications. So, they only had one unit of blood and had to have two units to do a transfusion. After filling out a short questionaire and stating the name of the man who I was donating for, I was sent into a room where a nurse (without gloves) took a small vile of my blood. Then, following directions, I walked my vile across the hall and handed it to a young guy who would test my blood to see if I was "approved." He opened my vile, inserted a needle-like piece of the machine into it (the piece looked as though it had been in many other viles of blood too), and proceeded to test it. Apparently, he didn't like the first results so he shook up the vile and tested it again. He handed me a report (the 2nd one) and sent me back across the hall to a doctor. The doctor studied my report, circled several items and then said, "You need to go and drink two Ayrans (salty yogurt drinks), wait 30 minutes, and then come back to see us." Since we were on a bit of a time crunch, we headed to the hospital cafe where I put back two Ayrans faster than should be allowed. Thankfully they both stayed down. Praise be to God, I was "approved" and thirty minutes later I was back in the blood center, lying on a table, hooked up to a machine, and praying that I didn't faint as I had in the past. From there it was smooth sailing.

As we drove home I couldn't help but think of this Turkish brother and the reality that, at this point, he only had access to two units of blood. I also became thankful for the services of the Red Cross.