Posts Tagged ‘organ donation’

 

On Waiting for an Organ Transplant, Revised

Posted on: January 31st, 2014 by Alden

Organ Donation StampThis is a prayer for those who await an organ transplant. It is revised slightly from the original. The change: adding an explicit reference to live kidney donation. The prayer is written to be said for oneself or for another, with options shown in [brackets]. There’s also the option to add a name. Here’s the original version, which appears in my new book Jewish Prayers of Hope and Healing. As many of you know, my wife Ami z”l was an organ donor. The introduction to the original prayer talks about about a letter from the recipient of Ami’s heart. My prayer “For Organ Donation” thanks G-d for the medical skill and asks for blessings on all who make transplantation possible. “In Memory of An Organ Donor” is a yizkor prayer for organ donors.

On Waiting for an Organ Transplant, Revised
Ancient One,
Breath of Life,
In Your wisdom You have given medical science
The skill and ability to transplant organs,
Renewing life for the critically ill.
G-d of compassion and mercy,
Bless [me] [my father / mother / sister / brother / child / wife / husband / partner / dear one / friend]
[______________________ (name),]
With this gift of life.
Release [me / him / her] from fear and pain,
From moments of uncertainty and times of despair,
From powerful medications, debilitating treatments and temporary interventions.

Open the hearts of men and women
To share their health
By giving blood,
Registering as marrow and kidney donors
And dedicating themselves to organ donation.
Open, too, the hearts of families
Facing the death of a loved one,
So that, in the shadow of grief,
They find the strength to give the gift of life.
May they find meaning and comfort
In their time of suffering and loss.

G-d of healing,
[I ] [my father / mother / sister / brother / child / wife / husband / partner / dear one / friend]
Wait(s) in the shadow of disease,
In the shadow of pain and suffering,
In the shadow of mortality.
May this wait end soon,
With a healthy organ, a successful transplant,
And a speedy recovery.

© 2014 Alden Solovy and tobendlight.com. All rights reserved.

Postscript: All three of my organ donation prayers appear in my new book, Jewish Prayers of Hope and HealingMy other prayers for healing include: “For Surgery,” “Upon Recovery from Surgery,” “For Healing the Spirit,” “For a Critically-Ill Mother,” “For a Critically-Ill Father,” “For a Critically Ill Child” and “R’fuat HaNefesh: Healing the Soul.”

For usage guidelines and reprint permissions, see “Share the Prayer!” For notices of new prayers, please subscribe. You can also connect on Facebook and Twitter. If you like this prayer, please post a link to Facebook, your blog or mention it in a tweet.

Photo Source: Doctors Health Press

For Donor Families

Posted on: August 15th, 2012 by tobendlight

Organ Donation StampThis is a healing prayer for families of organ donors, my fifth about the gift of life. It comes directly out of our family experience. The other prayers are: “For Organ Donation,” which asks for blessings on all who make transplantation possible; “For Organ and Tissue Donation” is an adaptation of that prayer; “In Memory of An Organ Donor” honors the memory of organ donors; and “On Waiting for an Organ Transplant” is for those, suffering and perhaps near the end of life, who wait and wonder. This prayer appears in my new book, Jewish Prayers of Hope and Healing.

For Donor Families
Ancient One,
G-d of healing,
Bless the family of ____________ (name),
Of righteous memory,
Who was taken from their midst.
In the time of their deepest heartbreak
They had the strength and courage,
Generosity and kindness,
To choose life by donating her / his organs
For the benefit of others.
Bring wholeness and healing to their family.
May their strength resound through the generations.
May their love never cease.
Let their gift serve as a call to others
To follow this righteous path.

Grant Your blessings upon
All who are touched by transplant,
Donors, recipients and families,
Doctors and nurses,
Clinicians and administrators,
The vast network of professionals and volunteers
Who dedicate themselves to healing.

G-d of compassion,
May this gift of life
Become a source of consolation and comfort,
Holiness and grace.

© 2012 Alden Solovy and tobendlight.com. All rights reserved.

Postscript: This prayer appears in my new book, Jewish Prayers of Hope and HealingMy other prayers for healing include: “For Surgery,” “Upon Recovery from Surgery,” “For Healing the Spirit,” “For a Critically-Ill Mother,” “For a Critically-Ill Father,” “For a Critically Ill Child” and “R’fuat HaNefesh: Healing the Soul.”

For usage guidelines and reprint permissions, see “Share the Prayer!” For notices of new prayers, please subscribe. You can also connect on Facebook and Twitter. If you like this prayer, please post a link to Facebook, your blog or mention it in a tweet.

Photo Source: Doctors Health Press

On Waiting for an Organ Transplant

Posted on: February 29th, 2012 by tobendlight

Organ Donation StampThree months after Ami’s z”l death, my daughters and I received a thank you note from the man who received her heart. It was remarkably difficult to read, perhaps because her death was so recent and so sudden. Here’s what I wrote:

I hold an anonymous thank you note from a stranger, a man whose story is tied to mine, a man who once stood at the edge of death, whose family wondered and waited, the man who received Ami’s heart. Thank you for the gift of life, for this heart, he said, I will treat it well.

What is this thing inside us, that we can take it beating out of a dead woman and put it inside a dieing man, in the shadow of tragedy and loss, to heal, to sustain, to bless? Can it merely be flesh and blood, when it still yearns so powerfully for life?

Perhaps that heart that still beats, somewhere, inside someone, is a witness for us. No tragedy is so final, no loss so permanent, no fate so irrevocable, that a loving G-d cannot turn it into a blessing. Today I am counting blessings. You, my friends, among them.

This is my third prayer about the gift of life. “For Organ Donation” thanks G-d for the medical skill and asks for blessings on all who make transplantation possible. “In Memory of An Organ Donor” is a yizkor prayer for organ donors. This is a prayer for those, critically ill, suffering and perhaps near the end of life, who are waiting for transplants. The prayer is written to be said for oneself or for another, with options shown in [brackets]. There is also the option to add a name.

On Waiting for an Organ Transplant
Ancient One,
Breath of Life,
In Your wisdom You have given medical science
The skill and ability to transplant organs,
Renewing life for the critically ill.
G-d of compassion and mercy,
Bless [me] [my father / mother / sister / brother / child / wife / husband / partner / dear one / friend]
[______________________ (name),]
With this gift of life.
Release [me / him / her] from fear and pain,
From moments of uncertainty and times of despair,
From powerful medications, debilitating treatments and temporary interventions.

Open the hearts of men and women
To share their health
By giving blood,
Registering as marrow donors
And dedicating themselves to organ donation.
Open, too, the hearts of families
Facing the death of a loved one,
So that, in the shadow of grief,
They find the strength to give the gift of life.
May they find meaning and comfort
In their time of suffering and loss.

G-d of healing,
[I ] [my father / mother / sister / brother / child / wife / husband / partner / dear one / friend]
Wait(s) in the shadow of disease,
In the shadow of pain and suffering,
In the shadow of mortality.
May this wait end soon,
With a healthy organ, a successful transplant,
And a speedy recovery.

© 2012 Alden Solovy and  tobendlight.com. All rights reserved.

Postscript: This prayer appears in my new book, Jewish Prayers of Hope and HealingMy other prayers for healing include: “For Surgery,” “Upon Recovery from Surgery,” “For Healing the Spirit,” “For a Critically-Ill Mother,” “For a Critically-Ill Father,” “For a Critically Ill Child” and “R’fuat HaNefesh: Healing the Soul.”

Please consider making a contribution to support this site and my writing. For usage guidelines and reprint permissions, see “Share the Prayer!” For notices of new prayers, please subscribe. You can also connect on Facebook and Twitter.

Photo Source: Doctors Health Press

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