Organ donor saved dad's life
The Varsity News - University of Detroit Mercy | Maggie Johnson
New year. New faces. New classes.
A wise, but crazy, teacher once told me, “Change is good, change is hard and change is necessary to move forward.â€
Who likes change? I know that I don’t.
How many changes do we face in a semester? New classes? New professors? Even new majors?
Now here’s the kicker: If you could change a life, would you?
A year ago my dad reached a whole new level of change.
I’ll keep it short. Dad got sick, Dad needed a new liver, Dad went on the transplant list in August, Dad almost died I don’t know how many times (one of those times happened during PTV). And we waited.
Finally, we were blessed with the phone call telling my parents that my dad was scheduled for surgery at Henry Ford the next morning. That morning was a year ago today.
Last month, my family attended the Transplant Olympics in Grand Rapids.
My dad was not cleared by his doctors to participate in the actual games, but we went for the night to support Team Michigan, and we met many other organ recipients and donor families from across the country and from many walks of life.
There was a 14-year-old girl who was born at the same hospital I was and received a heart transplant two days after birth. There was also a gentleman from Philadelphia whose wife received a double-lung transplant and finished a 5K run. Unfortunately, we learned that she was in rejection. But her husband remained optimistic that she would get another transplant.
New year. New faces. New classes.
A wise, but crazy, teacher once told me, “Change is good, change is hard and change is necessary to move forward.â€
Who likes change? I know that I don’t.
How many changes do we face in a semester? New classes? New professors? Even new majors?
Now here’s the kicker: If you could change a life, would you?
A year ago my dad reached a whole new level of change.
I’ll keep it short. Dad got sick, Dad needed a new liver, Dad went on the transplant list in August, Dad almost died I don’t know how many times (one of those times happened during PTV). And we waited.
Finally, we were blessed with the phone call telling my parents that my dad was scheduled for surgery at Henry Ford the next morning. That morning was a year ago today.
Last month, my family attended the Transplant Olympics in Grand Rapids.
My dad was not cleared by his doctors to participate in the actual games, but we went for the night to support Team Michigan, and we met many other organ recipients and donor families from across the country and from many walks of life.
There was a 14-year-old girl who was born at the same hospital I was and received a heart transplant two days after birth. There was also a gentleman from Philadelphia whose wife received a double-lung transplant and finished a 5K run. Unfortunately, we learned that she was in rejection. But her husband remained optimistic that she would get another transplant.
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