紐約中華海外宣道會牧師譚俊德之獨女譚文筠被證實患有血癌。香港將舉辦驗血行動為她及其他血癌病者尋找合適骨髓。
譚文筠今年十九歲，本是游泳健將，但四年前發現患有骨癌，一條腿需要切去；但她並無放棄運動，改為修習乒乓球。化療期間，她繼續學業，並以優良成績考入波士頓名校衛斯理學院。其骨癌本已治癒，但於本年三月九日一次普通驗血之中，譚文筠又被驗出患有血癌。但她並無因這個雙重打擊而怨天尤人，反而立志要成為醫生去研究癌症，以醫治其他癌症病人。
驗血行動由香港骨髓基金主辦，時間是5月28日（週六）下午2時30分至晚上8時及5月29日（主日）中午12時至傍晚6時，地點是將軍澳新都城中心2期商場（寶琳地鐵站）。召集人之一吳桂行弟兄呼籲教會機構屆時組織弟兄姊妹到場驗血，查詢可電28559855香港骨髓基金。
（www.christiantimes.org.hk，時代論壇每日快拍，2005.5.3）
Wish Miss Tam the best, but do not make this just one person’s cause
It is very important that as many people be tested as possible. From a medical point of view, the larger the database, the more helpful it will be for ALL OF US – because we or our friends and family may depend on it later. And from a Christian perspective, if Jesus can give His live for us, can we at least give a few cc’s of blood and a few minutes?
But please do not make this one person’s cause. I wish this young sister her very best and hope that she can find a prefect donor. However, this is a long-term battle. We must look beyond just one patient who we want to help. Otherwise we will be very discouraged if we do not get the outcome we are looking for.
(The author was a volunteer with the Hong Kong Marrow Foundation in the early 1990’s and developed Hong Kong’s first bone marrow matching database during the “Save Little Gordon” campaign – at that time, no match for little Gordon was found, but many other patients benefited from the database developed from the drive)
