Roger Saves His Sister’s Life and Finds His Own

From the Festival of Giving and Receiving

I did an internship at the Mayo Clinic at the department of engineering. My mind was constantly shifting in and out of spacey states, but I was able to work through it. I graduated and Mayo offered me a job.

But my spaciness got much worse. Bodily shaking would come and go on its own. I could sleep in minutes in any chair available to me. My blood pressure was dangerously low. I was asked to leave my job because I was unable to function well enough to perform.

About this same time, I had an older sister who was dying of kidney disease. She was in need of a transplant. I had been previously tested for a donor and I was a perfect match. My sister informed me the transplant could be within weeks.

The transplant was not difficult for me since I was hardly attached to my body or the world. I was mostly living in some spaced out dream-like state.  I recovered at home where my mother was living and where I grew up. I began reading Ram Das, Swami Rama, and several other authors of the time. I learned of an ashram in Pennsylvania that had a healing clinic and medical staff. I decided this was for me. But how could I could I afford it?

My family had purchased a car for me as a gift for being the kidney donor. I totaled the car, but the amount of the insurance payment was just enough to afford the ashram clinic and an old beater car.

I had wonderful help at this ashram clinic. The doctors understood me and had the tools to help my condition. After several weeks of therapy, I stayed on as a resident of the ashram. This allowed time for the healing and tools to work. I left in a few months, moved to the Twin Cities, got an engineering job, and things steadily improved.

So this story is about generosity. The generosity of life itself. How the pain and trials of life crack you open and you emerge as a new more awakened soul.