Your thoughtfulness and a couple of minutes of your time
can mean all the difference in the world to another.

It could be someone's Mother or Father.... Daughter or Son...
even an infant struggling to start life with your help.

My Dad, a statistic at the age of 51.

He was a police officer when he unknowingly suffered a mild heart attack while on duty and developed cardiomyopathy. When he was diagnosed he was otherwise very healthy with the organs of a 40 year old. A great candidate... a terrific candidate... just what the doctors look for... but... but 16 years ago when they wanted to consider the transplant my dad had turned 50 and there was an age cutoff of 50 for heart transplants. He died the following year. Thank God this is no longer true.

This is my son, Anthony, when he was 15.
When Anthony was 18 he was accidentally poisoned with antifreeze. This wasn't discovered until nearly 16 hours later when he was thankfully hospitalized. The hospital nearly lost him then but eventually got him stabilized. The doctors had a shunt inserted in his chest and Anthony was put on full dialisys 3 times a week and placed on the emergency transplant list for a kidney. You see, that's how antifreeze kills... it shuts down the kidneys. Because of the amount of time the antifreeze had been in Anthony's body, the hospital was expecting a complete shutdown and held out little hope... from day to day it was a constant race against time.

We were lucky and visited by a miracle (but that's another story) and now Anthony is 28, he is fully recovered and we are so fortunate to have him with us.

I personally have had two close calls dealing with transplants... I lost my dad too soon because transplants weren't available to him when they found out he needed it... and I nearly lost my son but was very thankful that this wondrous procedure was available... if needed.

Now I know a baby girl who just turned 2 years old and has had to fight for every day of those 2 years. She has spent the bulk of her tiny life more with doctors and nurses than with mom and dad. You see, the heart God gave her isn't working real well and she's been waiting... waiting for someone that might grant her the Gift of Life.

A very special question for those who find themselves having doubt at the time when the decision must be made. Simply ask yourself, if the person you are crying over could have been saved by an organ transplant, would you have wanted someone else to have donated an organ?