Parliament

February 13, 2005

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A Heartwarming Valentine’s Day Story

Oh, is today Valentine’s Day? Hm… I’ll be damned.

Back when I lived in Rhode Island, I had the pleasure of interviewing a family with the greatest Valentine’s Day story ever.

Prior to my meeting them, the father had been battling heart disease. And it had gotten progressively worse and worse. He’d been through several open heart surgeries– so many so, in fact, that he joked it might have made more sense to have a zipper installed in his chest.

He had a Pacemaker, and it was working overtime. Essentially, a Pacemaker “jolts” your heart back into action when it stops. This guy told me that his Pacemaker was jolting him every hour.

He was on the donor’s list for a new heart, but they weren’t sure how long he’d be able to hold on. I mean, when your heart is trying to quit on you on an HOURLY basis, that’s not a very good sign.

One night, they got the call– they’d found a donor.

The heart was coming from a young man who was critically injured in an automobile accident. He was pronounced brain dead, and his family made the difficult decision to remove all life support. Further, they’d opted to donate all organs to those in need. It was a HUGE sacrafice, but it meant a second chance for a lot of people. The gentleman I was interviewing was one of them.

He and his wife were in bed when the call came in. The heart was in transport, and they needed him to be at the hospital as quickly as possible. He and his wife jumped out of bed, got dressed, and raced out of the house. This was so important, that they’d failed to realize the irony until well after the surgery.

It was Valentine’s Day.

The surgery went extremely well. As I spoke to the man in his living room, he was surrounded by his wife and children. Tears rimmed his eyes as he expressed his gratitude. He hadn’t contacted the donor family yet, as it was still too difficult (I think there was also some sort of five-year gag order rule between families, too). But it was plain to see that the gift he’d received (and on such an apropros day) had made a tremendous impact on so many people.

One family braved a nightmare, and gave a selfless and loving gift to another family whom they’d never met. Literally and figuratively, they gave their heart. And it made all the difference.

That’s a beautiful story. Thanks for sharing it.

colige_grajuit

February 14, 2005

What a great story. 🙂

EWS

That’s really neat. I’m glad that someone’s death had some positive results. Eric

Hurricane Katie

ryn: okay, I’ll bite. Why did you send me that link? I mean, yeah… it was a funny story (and interesting chupacabra path)… but, huh?

defenestration

wonderful. i’m a organ donor for much those reasons.

mak

🙂 its good that u have such an appreciation for this. this is the best vday story i ever heard

Angel on Earth

Thank you for sharing that story. How fitting.

Lor

Beautiful…

Wow, what an awesome story. I am a transplant recipient (kidney – it rejected in 1999 so I am on the waiting list, again). I wish more people would consider organ donation.

Insert Alias Here

RYN: #1-Why do you refuse to watch that movie??? It was really good. #2-I am loving the pic on your DD page. How adorable is that? I didn’t take note to which baby it was, but either way…adorable. How old are they now?

Desert Rein

Great. Just great. Now I’m all sniffly dammit. Damn you!

very nice

cyndication

I’ve always loved a good metaphor. 🙂

Mrs B

Thank you for sharing that, it was really touching 🙂

Slapdash Sutefani

beautiful story. thank you for sharing.

weird how the comments of favorites become so similar. perhaps next time i will read your notes before commenting 🙂

Shadowhaven

Amazing story.

Vamp

Wow! That is an awesome story.

Details: I’m flying into Chicago on the 15th of June and then need to be in New York to meet my sister on Sunday the 19th. Not sure what I’ll be doing in Chicago or how I’ll get to NYC but that’s the time frame. Then my sister leaves NY on the morning of the 24th and I will head down to Washington DC to see Anjali (ODer). There’s flexibility in the bookends of Chicago and Washington.

death_by_sharpie

February 15, 2005

Word. The hat days and parties and all that can go. I’d really rather just do my job. All I ask in return in a paycheck and getting out of here by 5. Please write that manual and send a copy to my office. I only work with 8 other people, but there’s still so. much. confusion. We need some continuity. Thx for the note. I’d be your grl except that I lost my pass to the Mothership. 😉 M

Red Wolf

What a wonderful story.

mENTAL mAN

COOL……….. I’m a donor too…………….CHEERS

'Rella

RYN: Yes. Do you plan to keep asking? Be well,

RYN: I swear to you that I have had that conversation or something very similar with dozens of men in just the last month. Sex is so easy to find. Unfortunately, it is the only thing to be found. At least for me.

Biker

Cool.

February 16, 2005

RYN: so what would be a good generic excuse?

Argent D'or

Thank you for sharing this story…

I love that people are willing to give like that. It’s amazing.

People who ride motorcycles are called organ donors. My drivers license declares me an organ donor and I’m quite proud of that fact (but I don’t ride motorcycles).

That is such a nice story. 🙂

sweet aubergine

February 24, 2005

that made me choke a little, with tears. Very well written. What a nice story…