Are you a donor?
I know this topic can be a little controversial but it is something near and dear to my heart.
The simple, selfless acts of others to save people most likely we will never know.
Last week on Good Morning America there was a segment on bone marrow transplants and about how people are always needed to be matched with proper candidates needing transplants. There was a sweet story with a young mom who had cancer and a college student who were meeting for the first time after he was a perfect match for her many years earlier. I cried listening to their story, and I immediately went to the website to register for bone marrow transplants.
Unfortunately, because I have had blood clotting issues (hemorrhaging at the triplets birth) I am not an eligible donor. Err!
I truly believe in the blessing that organ and tissue donating can be. A selfless act. From as small and donating blood to body parts and organs, everything can make a difference to someone that is need. After all, we don't know when we will need something that someone else could provide us. I have received blood transfusions (again, after the triplets birth since I lost so much blood) and I am forever thankful that our medical system has this readily available.
And then, I was watching ABC's NY Med last week and the episode featured a man getting a heart transplant and it brought back flooding memories of a few years ago. It wasn't a very fun time for my family. My mom wasn't around much because she was traveling back and forth to Tampa, FL and then to Emory University in Atlanta, GA to be with her brother and advocate for him through and through.
The story quick and short is that my uncle (my mom's only brother and my only blood relative on my mom's side who is still alive) had a massive heart attack (I was in my second year of college) and had immediate quadruple bypass. He had every complication known to man including an allergic reaction to the blood thinner hepburn, and in turn lost some fingers and toes along with the numerous other things. He almost died many, many, many times. Kidney failure, liver failure, infections, ect, ect, ect...the doctors didn't give much hope and many times we thought we were about to loose him, but God worked a miracle. My uncle survived but his heart was very weak.
After many, many months, and long battles fought, he was finally put on the heart transplant list. The way a transplant list works is that you basically have to be dead to get the organ, and he wasn't far from dead when he finally received the wonderful news that he would be a recipient of a new heart on July 5, 2007. We rushed from MD down to Emory University where he was at to be there and walked in the door right after he came out of surgery. The surgery of course lasted many hours, but days later my uncle was up walking around and became quite healthy again. It was literally nothing short of a miracle!
But that's not what this post is really about. It's not about the story of him, it's about those who give. Those who give life. Those who give life to people they will never know.
You see, I watched that episode about the heart transplant and saw how lucky, how appreciative, how extremely thankful, how humble the man who received the heart was. He knew the gift he had been given. He simply said, "I need to do some good because someone gave me a heart. He didn't give me a heart to go sit on the beach in Florida." And that is what made me write this post.
I know that when my time comes to meet my Creator, I would like doctors to take whatever they can from me and my body. If I can make someone else's life better or cure them from sickness, then by all means, please do. And I know this isn't for everyone but it is for me. It is something I truly believe in. For that I am sure of. I can only hope that I will save lives because I chose to give to others.
And I would hope that those who receive from donors are appreciative and make the very best of the gift they have been given.
Unlike someone I know. Remember that story I told you about, the one about my uncle, the only uncle I have on my mother's side. So many people fought on his behalf, gave up their lives and a man who lost his own life chose to be a donor to give my uncle a heart. You would think that going through a heart transplant would make someone believe and live a gracious life, but in turn he lives a selfish, un-Godly life with none of his family. I guess even when you change the heart, the person is still the same. He proves this more and more true as each year passes. It's so upsetting to me and so sad.
I constantly think of this quote by Aesop: "No act of kindness, however small, is wasted." I can't help but think that this unknown man's gift of his own heart, the organ that gave him his life, was simply wasted on someone who didn't deserve it. Wasted on a man who knows no selfless act, only selfish ones.
I know that isn't right to think or say that, but it is the way I feel about my uncle. I am saddened that he is not in my life, my mom's life, my children's lives because I have many fond memories of him when I was a child and a teen. But then again, he is a changed person than who is was and there isn't room in my life or my families lives for selfish, un-Godly people.
And I know that if I were ever the recipient of someone else's selfless act, I would use my life to give back more than ever and to cherish those around me because I was given a second chance. A second chance of life because of someone else. How do you repay such a selfless act? The act of giving life.
I hope you choose to give life. And if ever you are ever a recipient of life, live that life to the fullest, giving to others.
I know this topic can be a little controversial but it is something near and dear to my heart.
The simple, selfless acts of others to save people most likely we will never know.
Last week on Good Morning America there was a segment on bone marrow transplants and about how people are always needed to be matched with proper candidates needing transplants. There was a sweet story with a young mom who had cancer and a college student who were meeting for the first time after he was a perfect match for her many years earlier. I cried listening to their story, and I immediately went to the website to register for bone marrow transplants.
Unfortunately, because I have had blood clotting issues (hemorrhaging at the triplets birth) I am not an eligible donor. Err!
I truly believe in the blessing that organ and tissue donating can be. A selfless act. From as small and donating blood to body parts and organs, everything can make a difference to someone that is need. After all, we don't know when we will need something that someone else could provide us. I have received blood transfusions (again, after the triplets birth since I lost so much blood) and I am forever thankful that our medical system has this readily available.
And then, I was watching ABC's NY Med last week and the episode featured a man getting a heart transplant and it brought back flooding memories of a few years ago. It wasn't a very fun time for my family. My mom wasn't around much because she was traveling back and forth to Tampa, FL and then to Emory University in Atlanta, GA to be with her brother and advocate for him through and through.
The story quick and short is that my uncle (my mom's only brother and my only blood relative on my mom's side who is still alive) had a massive heart attack (I was in my second year of college) and had immediate quadruple bypass. He had every complication known to man including an allergic reaction to the blood thinner hepburn, and in turn lost some fingers and toes along with the numerous other things. He almost died many, many, many times. Kidney failure, liver failure, infections, ect, ect, ect...the doctors didn't give much hope and many times we thought we were about to loose him, but God worked a miracle. My uncle survived but his heart was very weak.
After many, many months, and long battles fought, he was finally put on the heart transplant list. The way a transplant list works is that you basically have to be dead to get the organ, and he wasn't far from dead when he finally received the wonderful news that he would be a recipient of a new heart on July 5, 2007. We rushed from MD down to Emory University where he was at to be there and walked in the door right after he came out of surgery. The surgery of course lasted many hours, but days later my uncle was up walking around and became quite healthy again. It was literally nothing short of a miracle!
But that's not what this post is really about. It's not about the story of him, it's about those who give. Those who give life. Those who give life to people they will never know.
You see, I watched that episode about the heart transplant and saw how lucky, how appreciative, how extremely thankful, how humble the man who received the heart was. He knew the gift he had been given. He simply said, "I need to do some good because someone gave me a heart. He didn't give me a heart to go sit on the beach in Florida." And that is what made me write this post.
I know that when my time comes to meet my Creator, I would like doctors to take whatever they can from me and my body. If I can make someone else's life better or cure them from sickness, then by all means, please do. And I know this isn't for everyone but it is for me. It is something I truly believe in. For that I am sure of. I can only hope that I will save lives because I chose to give to others.
And I would hope that those who receive from donors are appreciative and make the very best of the gift they have been given.
Unlike someone I know. Remember that story I told you about, the one about my uncle, the only uncle I have on my mother's side. So many people fought on his behalf, gave up their lives and a man who lost his own life chose to be a donor to give my uncle a heart. You would think that going through a heart transplant would make someone believe and live a gracious life, but in turn he lives a selfish, un-Godly life with none of his family. I guess even when you change the heart, the person is still the same. He proves this more and more true as each year passes. It's so upsetting to me and so sad.
I constantly think of this quote by Aesop: "No act of kindness, however small, is wasted." I can't help but think that this unknown man's gift of his own heart, the organ that gave him his life, was simply wasted on someone who didn't deserve it. Wasted on a man who knows no selfless act, only selfish ones.
I know that isn't right to think or say that, but it is the way I feel about my uncle. I am saddened that he is not in my life, my mom's life, my children's lives because I have many fond memories of him when I was a child and a teen. But then again, he is a changed person than who is was and there isn't room in my life or my families lives for selfish, un-Godly people.
And I know that if I were ever the recipient of someone else's selfless act, I would use my life to give back more than ever and to cherish those around me because I was given a second chance. A second chance of life because of someone else. How do you repay such a selfless act? The act of giving life.
I hope you choose to give life. And if ever you are ever a recipient of life, live that life to the fullest, giving to others.
I, infact, registed to be an Alabama and a Mississippi donor. Back in 2008 my brother was 18 years old and he was murdered. He was a donor and saved the lives of 3 people. 1 woman, 28 years of age, wasn't ever able to have children because she needed a kidney and being pregnant would put way to much strain on them. Well here it is almost 4 years later and she has a 1 year old. GOD works in mysterious ways sometimes. Eventhough we had a tragic loss, this lady Gained her life back and was able to live out her dream of "motherhood" all because my brother was so SELFLESS at the age of 16 when deciding to become a donor and put it on his drivers license. :))) We are so very proud of him.
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