The following is a story word-for-word by Blair P.Grubb, M.D. – Medical College of Ohio (Printed in Farbrengen Magazine)

“Many years ago, after graduating from Medical school, I worked for several months in a clinic in El Valle, a little town in the central highlands of the Dominican Republic. The staff at the clinic consisted of me, another physician fresh out of school, and a nurse – all under the supervision of a doctor who’d just completed his residency. Together, the four of us lived and worked in a cinder block building with two examination rooms, a small surgical area, a waiting room, and some tiny sleeping quarters.

Since the nearest hospital was more than an hour and a half’s drive away, we offered the only medical care for the entire region. Despite our meager stores of drugs and equipment, we saw nearly 70 patients each day and treated every conceivable disorder. People would literally walk barefoot for a day to come to our clinic, and often were hopelessly ill. gry kasyno jednoreki bandyta za darmo I felt as if I’d somehow been transported back in time to a different reality, far from the one I had known.

Although I spoke workable Spanish, communication was often difficult because many of our patients were French-speaking migrant workers from Haiti who spoke Spanish haltingly. Once, a young Haitian woman was brought to us in a state of shock after her arm was mangled by a threshing machine. We rushed her to our makeshift operating room and poured IV fluids into her as we struggled to control the bleeding.

Her hematocrit was so low it barely registered on our equipment. She needed blood badly, and it was clear that we were going to lose her without it. zaklady bukmacherskie polska The sole method we had for giving blood was a direct transfusion from one person to another. gry kasyno 240×320 With our rudimentary blood-typing kit, the only potential donor we could find was her younger brother. His Spanish was poor, but he seemed to understand when we explained that we needed to take some of his blood to save his sister. He turned a little pale, sat silent for a moment, and asked if there was any other way. ‘No,’ I replied, and he slowly nodded his head in agreement.

We placed an IV on him and began transfusing his sister. Almost immediately, she started regaining her color. Her brother smiled as he saw this, then turned his head to me, and in his soft, broken Spanish asked, ‘Cuando voy a morir?’ – ‘When will I die?‘ I stood dumbfounded, and then realized he’d misunderstood our explanations and thought we needed all his blood to save his sister.

The situation seemed humorous until a stunned fact hit me. This child, this precious child with hardly a moment’s hesitation, had been willing to sacrifice his life to save the sister he loved. At that moment, I stood in awe of this boy. As I looked down at him, his face glowed with a kind of radiance, and despite his fear, he seemed at peace.”

So ask yourself, what am I thankful for today. Who may have been willing to give to me everything that they have to give? And what would I be willing to give to others?

Very often, in my presentations, I talk about doing things to try and make this world a better place. I give some examples such as visiting the sick or the aged, helping a friend or neighbor, giving charity, etc. This past Sunday I was blessed to be able to give not only money, but to give of my time and energy as well. This is the season of Passover. There are many restrictions on what a person may and may not eat and Passover food tends to be expensive. My wife often tells me how much it cost to feed our family for the Passover holiday and it is truly mind blowing. Thank the good Lord that my wife and I both work and that we have the funds to buy what we need in order to celebrate the holiday. Unfortunately, there are many people who just don’t have the money to buy the necessary food items. Fortunately, there is an organization for whom I volunteer that not only distributes food to over 300 families in our neighborhood on a weekly basis but goes out of its way to make sure to distribute most of the Passover food items that one would need to celebrate the holiday properly. On this one day every year we get in excess of 400 volunteers who come down to help pack and deliver 27 different items to each of these families. Each order is tailor made for the individual families. What’s even nicer is the fact that the packers have no idea who the recipients are and even the drivers who deliver do not know the recipients as there are no names to be found anywhere. Packers only see order numbers and drivers only see addresses. It is exhausting work but when I sit down to celebrate the Passover Seder every year, I have a real sense of satisfaction knowing that I have helped others to be able to celebrate the holiday in the same fashion that I celebrate. It is an invaluable lesson for my children and grandchildren and I am proud that they are following in my footsteps.