纽约中华海外宣道会牧师谭俊德之独女谭文筠被证实患有血癌。香港将举办验血行动为她及其他血癌病者寻找合适骨髓。
谭文筠今年十九岁，本是游泳健将，但四年前发现患有骨癌，一条腿需要切去；但她并无放弃运动，改为修习乒乓球。化疗期间，她继续学业，并以优良成绩考入波士顿名校卫斯理学院。其骨癌本已治愈，但於本年三月九日一次普通验血之中，谭文筠又被验出患有血癌。但她并无因这个双重打击而怨天尤人，反而立志要成为医生去研究癌症，以医治其他癌症病人。
验血行动由香港骨髓基金主办，时间是5月28日（周六）下午2时30分至晚上8时及5月29日（主日）中午12时至傍晚6时，地点是将军澳新都城中心2期商场（宝琳地铁站）。召集人之一吴桂行弟兄呼吁教会机构届时组织弟兄姊妹到场验血，查询可电28559855香港骨髓基金。
（www.christiantimes.org.hk，时代论坛每日快拍，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)
