Organ Donation and You

In late October, I happened to read an amazing, and uplifting and heart wrenching story on the Toronto Star's website about a woman named Natalia Ritchie. Natalia has CF and was waiting on a lung transplant and the story profiled her blog and her desire to keep a record for her new baby daughter (born through a surrogate only a few months earlier). The story was incredible and I looked up Natalia's blog and was overwhelmed with her incredible story and the strength with which she was approaching the wait for a lung transplant, while dealing with CF and being in a hospital.

I found myself following her story - and was incredibly moved by her words and pictures and the brutal honesty she brought to her blog about the pain and anguish of living with CF, and also the joys and victories she experienced with her life, her family and her friends.

Most everyone who knows me would not know that I once lost someone very dear to me, and that organ donation has always been very personal to me. I've always known I would be an organ donor if something were ever to happen to me, and I've made sure to tell Chris about my desires, and to make sure that I have filled out my consent when renewing licenses, etc.

When I lost my friend, it was an awful time - it was a shock to lose someone so important to me who I thought I would have in my life forever - with no warning, no time to prepare. Saying goodbye to him in the hospital was beyond painful, but I respected his family's decision to donate his organs to people who could live because of their generous and loving decision.

So reading Natalia's blog and following her story struck a chord with me. As her blog chronicled her failing health, my heart went out to her and her family. As she slipped away day by day while waiting that "call", it helped me keep my own problems and stressors in perspective. We were in the middle of our move and trying to find a new home, and I was feeling so sick and scared at times, and I was truly fearful we'd have to sell our home and would not have a place to live right away (we'd sold ours before we found a place in Ottawa and the closing was very quick). As scary as that was, I couldn't help but feel that my problems were nothing compared to the battle Natalia was waging...

Time did seem to be running out for her when the call... THE CALL... finally came and she went through a double lung transplant. Reading her story and following along with her recovery has been an amazing experience, and because of her blog, I've spoken to many others about the importance of thinking through organ donation and ensuring your loved ones know what your desires are if anything tragic were ever to happen.

Recently, Natalia posted a link to another amazing blog - the story of a young girl (Eva Markvoort) who also has CF who had received a double lung transplant only two years ago and recently found out that her body was rejecting the lungs. She then had to wait for a second transplant - but it seems as if time is running out for Eva. To say that her blog is amazing and heartbreaking is an incredible understatement. Eva's story and pictures and words are so difficult to read, but they are also so important and so precious.

I urge you to check out their blogs - be prepared for tears, but if it helps to spread the message of the importance of organ donation, then I'm happy I made this post.

Natalia's blog can be found at:
http://www.natandmarty.blogspot.com/

Eva's blog can be found at:
http://65redroses.livejournal.com/