Better Than Roses on Valentine’s Day, Life is the Greatest Giftsubmitted on 30 September 2014
What is the greatest gift? I dare say we all have our own opinions about this, but if there was a top 10, surely the gift of life would be high in the chart. But how can we actually give life? I suppose that giving birth is creating life, but is there any actual gift here? I don’t believe there is. To me, a gift is something you give and here are some of the ways that I truly believe we give the greatest gift the gift of life.
Egg donation
Which came first, the chicken or the egg? An age old conundrum, but one we can answer positively for women who have to rely on the donation of other women’s eggs to conceive a child. The egg comes first and foremost, and is the most important thing in a prospective mother’s life. These eggs are usually donated by an anonymous woman who becomes an angel to the recipient, and a giver of life for the child born later.
Sperm Donation
A sperm donation often comes in the same fashion as an egg donation, i.e. from a bank. However, a sperm donation is also often given by a family member such as a brother-in-law or even a close friend. Some women prefer this approach as they can carry on a gene pool from a man’s family, or at least have knowledge of the donor himself. What better way is there to help a friend, or somebody in your family, than to help them conceive a child? Surely this would top any Christmas present, and the donor could have the pleasure of watching the child grow up meaning 2 gifts have been given.
Womb Transplant
Neither of the previous gifts would be useful without the presence of a womb for the baby to develop in, and this gift is different than the others in that the donor is not alive (though a woman from Nottingham, England is trying to donate her own uterus to her daughter), but that doesn’t negate the gift itself. A uterus transplantation is a fairly new procedure, but it is a gift that will be able to help women all over the world. No longer will being born with a faulty or missing uterus need to stop women having children in the future. It is comforting that even in death we can help to create new life.
Kidney Transplant
Living donor transplants account for around 30% of all kidney transplants in the United Kingdom and USA, and are now a regular occurrence. However, there is something special about kidney transplants, and that is the donation of a kidney from a living relative such as brother or sister. A recent case saw Richard Mach, a man from New York, give his wife one of his kidneys as a gift on Valentine’s Day, and though not as pretty as a bunch of flowers, this was the greatest gift he could possibly have given her. They can now look forward to sharing their future together.
If you would like to give life to somebody, it is easy to apply to a sperm or egg bank. You could also help to give somebody a new future carrying a donor card at all times, and possibly give somebody the greatest gift of all.
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