In 2015, I was diagnosed with Severe Aplastic Anemia, and my only cure was a bone marrow transplant. Needle pricks, blood transfusions and countless nights at the hospital consumed my 12 year old lifestyle. When news broke out that I was sentenced to a life threatening illness, I felt like there was no way I would live through this, no matter how much courage and strength I had. While I had given up, my parents would confide in monks from temples all over Sacramento. Ultimately, my parents would spend nights and days in hospital chanting prayers and converting to vegetarianism in hopes of a cure. I watched each of my treatments fail from one to the next and each time I would lose a little more hope. I found no motive to continue living and everyday I questioned why it had to be me.
Once I was released from the hospital, my parents brought me to a Friday Night Prayer session at the Heart of Compassion Association, Inc., Sacramento. I was taught many lessons throughout my weekly visits: karma explains life experiences and the only way to save myself was for enlightenment. Buddhism enlightens me because this is one of the few religions that explains the phenomenon of life experiences. It provides reasonable explanations for why certain aspects of life like humans, who are rich and poor, insects that are scary and friendly, and etc. Once I realized that the ultimate reason for my suffering was because of karma, I refused to sit down and relinquish this illness; I wanted enlightenment.
Throughout my illness, I had experiences that seem unbelievable and beyond rational thought. I had several experiences with kidney stones that brought unbearable pain, and due to my condition, I wasn’t allowed any surgery to remove the stone; I was forced to bear the pain and flush the stones out. I prayed throughout the night placing my treatment in the hands of Compassion Buddha (Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva). This unbearable pain leaving me screaming in pain transformed into a night of good rest. Beyond logic and reasoning, all the while, astonishing the doctors, the next day my kidney stones had disintegrated into tiny pieces and was flushed out of my system. Throughout my treatments, the needle pricks stopped hurting, the fatigueness was bearable and the side effects were minimal.
Ultimately, my only cure was left with a Bone marrow transplant. Finding a stranger that was willing to be my donor seemed like a tedious task. Most patients are in search of a donor for over 2-3 years. Although 2-3 years seemed like a long time for someone who wasn’t the person they used to be, it didn’t stop me from keeping up my courage and continuing my strong belief in Compassion Buddha. Astonishingly, I found my donor within 5 months of searching. My donor, one who seldom answers the phone, had answered the phone call that would save my life.
The projected time for me to recover was 3-month recovery in the hospital and it may be the toughest part of my journey. Every single day in the hospital, my family would pray to the Medicine Buddha and Compassion Buddha in hopes of a speedy recovery. Once again, my doctors were astonished at my blood tests; my blood levels were normalizing and stabilizing. In the end, I went home within 1 month of my transplant. Most importantly, I was blessed to not have experienced the most severe and common side effects like nausea, abdominal pain and even graft vs. host disease (when transplanted cells are rejected by the body).
This difficulty in my life was more a blessing than a curse; it taught my parents and I the power in believing in something beyond rational thought. Having a Buddha or a God that you continually worship everyday and are devoted to, gives you a reason to continue everyday with positivity and optimism. I, now, am a survivor of this life threatening disorder, and I hope to pursue a career to give back, by becoming a doctor.
Trish Tran (drive-shares-noreply@google.com)
