An end or a beginning

It was a beautiful sunny morning in Berlin. Colorful flowerbeds and chirping of birds added to the picturesqueness of the city.

Sharon was an admirer of nature. But the bright sun was particularly annoying today. She was getting infuriated at every little thing. Even the extra sweetness of her coffee was enough to provoke her. The washing machine had over-flown twice and once she had even forgotten to measure the detergent but she didn’t seem to care. She paced across the balcony with an envelope in her hand.

“Sharon, are you coming to the supermarket for groceries?” called out Jane as soon as she saw her in the balcony.

But Sharon was lost in her own thoughts.

“Sharon? Sharon?” shouted Jane; loud enough to bring Sharon back to reality.

“What…you said something Jane,” asked a startled Sharon.

“Sharon, are you okay, dear? Is everything alright?” enquired a concerned Jane, sensing her low spirits, as she had for most of their lives.

“Oh…yeah. I was just a little….anyway….were you asking something?” replied a baffled Sharon.

“I was just asking if you are done with the household work, we could go to the supermarket,” replied Jane worried about her friend’s behavior.

“No, I don’t feel like going out at the moment. You carry on,” said Sharon quickly and rushed inside.

Jane stared after her.

Something was amiss, Jane guessed. Sharon never spoke to her in this manner. She took no time to understand that something was bothering Sharon. Realizing that Sharon didn’t want to talk about it at the moment, she decided to leave her alone for sometime.

Sharon cuddled herself up on the beanbag with envelope still in her hand. She kept staring at the envelope till she felt a stream of salty water emanating from her eyes. She had kept her calm since morning but she couldn’t contain the pain in her heart anymore. She was now inconsolable.

Sharon was sleeping on the beanbag when the doorbell rang. She alarmingly woke up to the musical unison of her phone and the doorbell. She decided to answer the doorbell first.

“Sharon, honey, are you doing fine? Where were you? I have been calling you for last three hours but you were not answering your phone. I asked Jane to check up on you but you did not even open the door. I was so worried for you. I came hurriedly leaving the meeting in between. Is everything alright dear?” enquired a perplexed Mike and hugged Sharon in relief without waiting for her answer.

Sharon held him tight and began sobbing.

“For God’s sake Sharon, please tell me what happened. I am getting restless now.”

With trembling hands, Sharon handed over the envelope to her anxious husband, Mike.

Without even opening the envelope, Mike understood the reason of Sharon’s dismal state.

The envelope was addressed to “Kate Brown”.

In a flash of second, all the memories of their charming daughter Kate hovered in front of his eyes.

The Browns were blessed with a lovely daughter after twelve years of their marriage and almost equal years of struggle and medication to bear a child. Kate was a beautiful child with heavenly eyes. The joy of the couple knew no bounds. Their prayers had finally been answered.

But God still hadn’t fully tested their patience and faith.

Kate was born with leukemia, clinically termed as Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL). A disease so rare in infants that even the largest pediatric leukemia centers may see only a handful of cases per year. The survival rate for infants with ALL is less than 50 percent because the biology of infants as well as their response to treatment is very challenging.

The news had devastated the Browns. They were completely shattered. They felt robbed of their most precious gift, without being given a chance of savoring it yet. But Sharon was a strong woman.

“I wouldn’t let my angel slip out of my hands. We will fight cancer and eradicate it from our daughter’s life,” she told Mike.

And they decided to stand the test of time.

Kate underwent chemotherapy treatment to wipe out her leukemia. She tolerated the first round of chemo like a fighter but was too tender to come out victorious from the second one. A bone marrow transplant was now her only chance of survival.

Now began the real challenge. The Browns had to find a compatible donor. They used all their contacts and wealth to search for a savior of their daughter’s life…their life. They left no stone unturned to save their little angel. They advertised everywhere- all friends, relatives, their offices, neighborhood, social media and what not, but in vain. They just couldn’t find the right match- a donor whose bone marrow was acceptable to the body of their little one. They felt helpless.

Unknown to them, God had His own plans. He loved Kate more than they did. He took Kate to heaven on her first birthday on earth.

Sharon and Mike were completely broken. Their world had collapsed. They had no meaning left in their life.

Just then, a thought flashed through Sharon’s mind like a message from the Almighty Himself. Sharon decided to donate the functional organs of Kate. They had lived that pain every moment for last one year and knew how agonizing and tormenting it was. Their daughter had been chosen by God to serve Him but they could live her memories and give life to someone who was undergoing the same trauma as she did.

Mike eagerly agreed as he considered it as an opportunity to keep her daughter alive somewhere in the world.

Since most of Kate’s organs were affected by cancer, only her heart and eyes could be transplanted.

The Browns found a new ray of hope in their life. It was like a drizzle on a drought-affected land but they welcomed it gladly. They would now be able to feel their daughter’s presence in someone through her beautiful heart and eyes. The transplants were successful.

It had been a month since Kate left a vacuum in their life when Sharon got a courier that morning. It was from one of the numerous organ transplant centers they had requested to, informing them that they had found an almost compatible donor for Kate.

Heaven fell on Sharon leaving her dumbfounded and miserable. “Why was God doing this injustice to her,” she thought repeatedly. Just when they had recovered from the pain of Kate’s tragedy, this letter arrived pricking like a needle on their wounds. If only they had been able to arrange the donor a few days ago, their angel would have been playing in their garden today. Their life would have been so different, so meaningful.

But probably, God determines the time spent by every human on earth at the time of birth itself. And probably, Kate’s life was meant to be a blessing for those two infants who were breathing with her heart and seeing the world with her eyes.