We are Worth It.

Earlier this week, Annika and I were up at Primary Children's Hospital again (per usual?) for the first of three IVIG infusions. She's getting some immunoglobulin therapy to counteract some donor specific antibodies that popped up, mostly out of an abundance of caution to ward off rejection. 

In reading more about immunoglobulin today, I learned that it is produced by harvesting IgG antibodies from the plasma of thousands of healthy donors. I also learned that it is outrageously expensive--undiluted immunoglobulin costs $100-$350/gram.  Thinking about all the people who have literally given of themselves to help Annika is overwhelming.  Once again, I feel overcome by gratitude for the goodness that exists in the world.  

At some point you begin to wonder, how much is a life is worth?  Saving our daughter has come at great expense.  I know insurance can be a nightmare, but I am humbled every time insurance steps up and covers the enormous sums that we would never be able to pay for ourselves.  I get emotional thinking of those who gave their blood for our girl, imperfect as she is.  I weep when I think of the one who gave her heart.

Annika won't ever be able to "repay" all that she has been given.  Looking at the financial side alone, it is unlikely that she could ever earn enough to cover her medical expenses, even if she is granted decades to try.  Those who have had a transplant are ineligible to donate blood, much less an organ.   

In pondering the value of a single life, I was overcome with an overwhelming feeling: "You are worth it."  No matter how high the cost, Annika's life is worth the expense, my life is worth it, and most importantly your life is worth it. 

On this Good Friday during Holy Week, I can feel my brother Jesus Christ reminding me: we are worth the sacrifice. Each one of us, individually.  He paid the debts we cannot pay.  He shared his blood to make us whole.  He gave his life so that we might live again.  He knows we are not perfect--not even close.  He knows that just like Annika, we will still be knuckleheads and make some poor choices, even after all we have been given. But He still loves us.

 

Far greater than any medical bill, the cost of Christ's suffering on the cross and in the Garden of Gethsemane is unfathomably high.  But risen from the tomb, Christ's message is the same: we are worth it.