THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, May 27, 1995 TAG: 9505270413
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Charlise Lyles
LENGTH: Medium: 81 lines
Dry spell'' in the cardiac ward at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital means that no hearts have been available to transplant for a mighty good while, that donors, for the time being, have dried up.
So Dr. Albert H. Powell Jr., a Ghent psychiatrist, waited nearly six months for the heart that came to him, at last, on Tuesday, 6 a.m., ice-packed in a plastic Playmates-like cooler flown from Winston-Salem.
During the heart drought, Chaplain Ditawa M. Nianda, assigned to cardiac, brought Powell a river of inspiration. Nianda's gapped-tooth smile is a gateway to ebullient words of faith rooted in Presbyterianism and influenced by African evangelicalism via his native Zaire. His voice resonates with hope. His laughter rises from a deep place.
In their prayers together, Powell, a man who studies the mind and body, and Nianda, a man who studies the soul, have anguished over the unholy role theology has come to play in the organ transplant process.
``So many of us Christians think that when we die and awaken at the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, we'll need organs and all our body parts,'' Nianda said. ``That's the myth.''
Consequently, many good-hearted, religious people turn righteously away from organ donation. Consequently, there are dry spells that yield ungodly suffering.
Nianda spoke in a blank-walled hospital classroom only minutes after Powell had been wheeled in for four hours of surgery. Jean, Powell's wife, sat beside Nianda.
The long wait for organs has forged their warm alliance. ``He has really helped us through this desert that we've been walking through. He's always smiling,'' Jean said of Nianda, minister at First United Presbyterian Church on East 29th Street.
Nianda's crusade to convert congregants to organ donation didn't begin with the Powells, and it won't end when they leave the hospital. He also is a member of Lifenet's Black Task force, which promotes donation among African Americans, who face a dire shortage. Organs from same-race donors match best and often provide the only match.
Nianda urges all churches, mosques, synagogues and temples to encourage more dialogue on the issue. It's worth a Sunday school lesson or two or three.
``It seems we're still dealing with abortion and homosexuality,'' he said. ``But shouldn't this take precedence, a live human being facing death?''
To enlighten his flock, Nianda seeks to relieve anxiety about the need for a body in the hereafter. From the big purple New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, he cites First Corinthians, 15:30: ``What I am saying, brothers and sisters, is this: Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.''
Dr. Powell is out of surgery now. His long wait is over, and his prognosis is good. It has been, as his wife called it, ``a rebirth.''
But the drought in the cardiac unit could begin again and stretch out over untold days for other patients awaiting a warm heart ice-packed in a cooler.
The irony is overwhelming: The ardent quest to be with God obstructs an act that must surely be one of divine benevolence.
We live in an age in which technological and medical advancements challenge us to rethink our understanding of and relationship to God, and perhaps the very essence of spirituality itself. In effect, scientific progress is forcing an evolution of the concept of God. If we ignore it or opt against it, we risk the very inhumanity that we seek to hold at bay through religious worship and practice.
The Rev. Nianda will remain in the vanguard: ``We ministers need to start getting more serious if we want to be faithful to our calling.'' MEMO: Charlise Lyles, former public editor, feature writer and recent
author of the memoir ``Do I Dare Disturb the Universe? From the Projects
to Prep School,'' begins a new weekly column today. It will appear on
this page every Saturday. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by Motoya Nakamura, Staff
While publicizing the need for donors, the Rev. Ditawa M Nianda,
right, has helped Jean Powell through her husband's transplant.
KEYWORDS: ORGAN TRANSPLANT by CNB