I was about five-years-old when I was coming out of a store with my dad. He asked me if I wanted a gumball. That was pretty much like asking me if I want a beer now in 2015. Um, yeah. So he gets me one. Just then he notices two or three kids standing up against the wall of the store staring at us. "Come here", he says. My dad bought everybody one. My folks were big on that whole "if you don't have enough for everybody" thing.
It was in that spirit that I reluctantly suggested to my mother that we could donate my dad's body to science. I was shocked at the yes I got. Being both Catholic and squeamish I never thought the idea would fly. I think she was just too upset to tell me how ridiculous I am. But I'm a Law & Order fan and Big D loved a suspenseful Lifetime movie now an then (he was very evolved). So I thought what the heck.
Luckily for us we are in the Cleveland Clinic hospital system. If you don't know it's a world renowned teaching hospital. As a kid I remember a shah of somewhere or other coming to town and renting out an entire floor for his entourage as he got a procedure done there. In Cleveland? Yes. We have more than pierogies and quarterbacks that don't live up to their hype. Plus, we rock.
Well the procedure went very smoothly. I'm going to do it myself. It saved my mother a lot of grief too: no casket, no urn, no picking out his best suit, blah blah. Plus I put it on Facebook and I am hearing from my doctor friends how reverent they are with these donations and how appreciative they were of this gift. This quote really got me on the clinic's home page:
“Am I deserving of this? Am I really learning enough? This person who didn’t even know me, gave me the last gift they had to give, I have to make it worth it, I have to learn every detail, and become a doctor with this knowledge, with this experience, and help patients for years to come! They’re giving the gift of medicine to hundreds, thousands of others. That can only be paid forward. ...and I can donate my own body. Then I’ll have settled my debts to this man once and for all.”
– Excerpted from My Body by Eric Coble (medical student speaking to cadaver) and based on the writings of Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine Class of 2015
I have also heard from a few others that they didn't even know they could do this and they are going to consider it for themselves. So down the road when we are watching CSI: Something Future-ish, Big D may have helped catch the killer.
http://portals.clevelandclinic.org/bodydonation/Home/tabid/5323/Default.aspx