A complex journey

The last few days have been quite grim as I have come off steroids. It’s the same every time and all chemo patients will know what I am referring to. The physical effects and tiredness are actually easier to cope with than the depression which hovers like a storm cloud.

However, as the week progresses I know I shall get better and my son has invited us to London for the weekend to be thoroughly spoiled. Having something to look forward to is really important.

When I embarked on my journey into the bubble I thought that the preparation for the transplant, the isolation and subsequent battle of host versus graft disease would be my main battleground. Of course, it still is. No other battles can be fought if you’re dead! However, because of what I have learned along the way, other battles have emerged – not just for me but for all seeking the right to know their true identity.

I have been reading a very interesting statement which is a charter of donor conceived people’s rights. I’m not sure where this originated from but it compares the rights of all human beings as set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, with those actually enjoyed by the donor conceived. Of course, the Declaration of Human Rights is a statement of ideals ultimately, in that not all countries of the world recognise those rights, but we tend to think that the more sophisticated and developed countries of the world do uphold those rights. However, ironically, it is probably these same sophisticated, developed countries who have actually withheld them from the donor conceived.

Whilst we look with horror at the way women are treated in some parts of the world, at how slavery still exists and children are exploited, we might well look in our own backyards. It would be good to think that we can move towards fairness for all without encountering prejudice, derision and complete lack of interest. Then perhaps the real storm clouds will be lifted.