Servant of the Month

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Author: Alyccea Nymaessene

TVT Servant of the Month.jpg

The Servant of All forum was recently opened here at TarValon.Net as a place for our members to share the ways in which we can serve others. Each month, the Outreach Team randomly selects a member from among those who have posted within the Servant of All forum to be TarValon.Net’s Servant of the Month. The Servant of the Month program is designed to recognise and encourage our members’ acts of service and philanthropy within their local communities and beyond.

Ealandrelle Melyma, Aes Sedai of the Red Ajah, was chosen as the inaugural Servant of the Month, and I was privileged to have the opportunity to interview her for this edition of the Tar Valon Times. Ealandrelle Sedai hails from Scotland, UK, where she works as a staff nurse in a specialist neurosurgery unit. Ealandrelle Sedai is married with two daughters, aged 5 1/2 and 3 years, and describes herself as “daft about most animals; particularly horses and cats. We have two crazy Maine Coons, and I have a horse on loan at the moment.” She also tells me that she makes an amazing Scottish tablet (a super sweet dessert), as this year’s Anni attendees are likely to remember!

Ealandrelle Sedai has made a number of posts throughout the Servant of All forum, so I took this opportunity to ask her about each of these acts of service. One post referred to Ealandrelle Sedai’s dedication to recycling and re-gifting home items that would otherwise be thrown away. When I asked how long Ealandrelle Sedai had been doing this for, she explained, “My parents did this as I was growing up, so it's something I've always been aware of. My father was a Minister, and his Church had a 'Nearly New' shop which was always looking for donations. I think this gave me an appreciation that just because we're finished with something, doesn't mean it has to just be thrown away - what may be "old" to you could still be "new" to someone else, as long as it's still usable and safe. So often I see things like children's bikes, or pushchairs just chucked at the side of the road - it's such a waste. I've found that particularly since I had my children, I've been even more dedicated to recycling or passing items on. Kids grow out of things so quickly - be they clothes, toys or whatever - there's almost always still life in them which someone else could make use of.”

Ealandrelle Sedai also mentioned in the same post that she gives many of her family’s unneeded items to the local social work department, where they are passed on to pregnant mothers who have left abusive relationships. “This was something I found out about through a very sad event actually,” Ealandrelle Sedai told me. “A friend of mine had a baby boy who only survived 27 days. We had given her a lot of our outgrown baby equipment, and my friend contacted me and asked if I wanted it back, or could she pass it on to the social work department? She had a friend who worked there who was always looking for things, as they have an absolutely minuscule budget. I certainly didn't have a use for the equipment any more, and it seemed in a way to be trying to at least have some good come out of an absolutely tragic situation.”

We went on to discuss another type of donation Ealandrelle Sedai has made - donating umbilical cord blood and breast milk. “Usually in the UK, after giving birth, the placenta and cord are disposed of. However, the blood in the umbilical cord is rich in stem cells,” Ealandrelle Sedai explained. “Not only can the stem cells be used in research (attempting to find cures for genetic illnesses, for example), but the cells can be used to treat a variety of illnesses. These include blood disorders (such as leukemia and sickle cell anemia), some immune disorders, and metabolic disorders (such as Hurler's syndrome).”

I asked Ealandrelle Sedai how she had learned about this type of donation, and she replied, “A case study I was given when I first inquired about donation was the story of a lady who had lymphoma. She had previously had one successful stem cell transplant, but the cancer later recurred. No adult match could be found, but cord blood was available and the transplant was a success. She was able to go back to living a normal life.”

I also wanted to know more about the breast milk donation, and Ealandrelle Sedai was happy to elaborate. “I was given a leaflet about the milk bank at the Children's Hospital in Glasgow when I left hospital after having my second child. The milk is used for babies in the NICU and SCBU who for whatever reason weren't able to get milk from their mother. For these babies, breastmilk is often easier on their tummies than infant formula, but perhaps their Mum's milk hasn't come in, or she is injured herself, or any one of a myriad of things has gotten in the way. At that point, they can use (pasteurized, screened) donor milk as a second option.”

Ealandrelle Sedai had to go through a lengthy process to donate breast milk. She was required to submit application forms detailing her medical information, provide blood samples (“this included screening for HIV, Hep C, and other blood borne viruses which can pass into breastmilk,” Ealandrelle Sedai explained), and then wait for the results before she could start donating. “Each bottle I had would only hold about 3 ounces of milk, which maybe doesn't sound a lot. But for the babies in Yorkhill, they'd maybe only be getting 10 milliliters or so at a time, so 3 ounces goes a long way. Each bottle was labelled with my unique identifier, and I'd mark it the date it was expressed before then freezing it. I had to check the freezer temperature daily, and record the temperature on a check sheet. Once I'd saved up a good number of bottles (30 or so usually), I'd contact the coordinator and she would arrange for pick-up by one of the Scottish National Transfusion Service volunteers, who would come out to my house with a large cooler. I'd transfer all the bottles to the cooler, and he'd take it straight to the milk bank. There it'd be screened and pasteurized before being used. I did feel very fortunate to have had the option to donate.”

In addition to donating her unneeded household items, cord blood, and breast milk, Ealandrelle Sedai also posted in the Servant of All forum about donating her time to drive a colleague home one rainy day. When I asked Ealandrelle Sedai about this decision, she explained, “I've only been driving for 5 and a half years. Before that, I was very fortunate to have a wonderful husband, great friends, and super family who were willing to give me lifts here, there, and everywhere, if public transport was proving troublesome. People went out of their way to help me, and I never forgot that. So when I passed my test, I decided that wherever possible, I'd 'pay it forward' and use my car to help others if I could. That particular morning, it was a full on Scottish miserable day - pouring rain, driving winds, bitterly cold. I knew that at most I'd be going maybe 15 or 20 minutes out of my way, but I'd save my colleague the choice between getting soaked to the skin on his bike, or paying a fairly substantial taxi fare. It just felt like the right thing to do.”

At this point I asked Ealandrelle Sedai whether she had any other forms of service she would like to mention. She responded, “Would it be really cheesy here to mention my job? I mean... it's my job. But it's also my vocation and my passion. Nurses, whether they are part of this site, whether they've heard of Robert Jordan or not... we're all 'Servants of All.' People come into our care, and we look after them. Regardless of race, religion, gender... we care for them. Whether it's celebrating those first steps after a spinal operation, or stroking the hair of someone who's coming to the end of their life who doesn't have any family to be with them... we're there. And I really want to use this opportunity to shout out to all my nursing colleagues around the world. So much of what we do goes unrecognized. And to a point, that's ok, because we're not doing it for the kudos. We're doing it because we love what we do. But a big hug to all my fellow nurses out there, because it's hard, and we do it anyway.”

Well, I’m certainly inspired to go out and try to help those around me as best I can! Ealandrelle Sedai is definitely an inspirational member of our community, and well deserving of the Servant of All title. Through her donations and her work, I’ve no doubt Ealandrelle Sedai has made a significant positive difference to countless lives.

If you are interested in following in Ealandrelle Sedai’s footsteps to make similar donations, she has kindly provided some advice on how our Tar Valon Times readers can obtain further information.

To donate unneeded items to families in need, “I would suggest they contact their local council and see if there is a similar scheme in their area. If not, local organisations like Women's Aid may be able to help - either to take in donations, or to recommend places which may need them.”

“If someone is considering donating either cord blood or milk, the first port of call should be their midwife, who should know what's available at the local hospitals. In England, you can check the NHS Cord Blood Bank site (http://www.nhsbt.nhs.uk/cordblood/). In Scotland, as far as I am aware, the only site remains the Princess Royal Maternity Hospital - though this may change with the opening of the South Glasgow University Hospital. Contacting the Scottish Blood Transfusion Service would be the way to go there (www.scotblood.co.uk).”

If you have donated in one or more of these ways, or have information on where members can find additional information on donations in your region, please share your experiences either here in the comments or in the Servant of All forum!

Tar Valon Times Newsletter version