Be sure to read Mal"s update below from yesterday.
April is Organ Donation Awareness Month...so throughout the month we will share some thoughts and facts!!!
Wow, when I think back over the last 2 plus years in the life of the Smith Family so much has changed. The week of July 10th 2006 is still so fresh in my memory like it was yesterday. We were told on July 13th that Mallory definitely had Wilson’s disease and was very sick, so sick in fact that without a liver transplant she would die and that her days were numbered. I remember the night Dr. Romero met us at the ICU at Egleston and told us. I just had to sit down, this could not be happening not to Mallory she has always been so healthy. After he told us (Mike and me) we decided to let Mallory rest and tell her first thing the next morning. We walked out to the parking lot to call the family and get our luggage, I remember being so frantic, we could not find the car. It seemed like it took us an hour to find it when in all reality it was probably only 10 minutes or so. So many thoughts go through your head…what is happening, why is this happening, will she live, will a donor liver come in time, O God please help us. I hope and pray that none of you will see your loved one go through this!!
This night did forever change our lives. Mallory was placed on the list the next morning July 14th and we waited and we waited for what seemed like an eternity. On July 16th the call came and on July 17th the transplant was performed. As a parent you pray so hard for an organ to become available so your child can live, knowing someone else has to lose a loved one in order for this to happen. I did not pray for someone to die but I did pray that in their deepest darkest moment of losing a loved one the decision would be made to be a donor. You see the person that donated their liver, did not die because of Mallory needing a liver, but Mallory is alive because of them donating their liver. Mallory’s live being saved did not cause this person to die.
Little did we know that this liver would not be the one that would carry her through the rest of her life. She needed another liver and 14 months later, it happened, another family decided to give the ultimate gift, the gift of life. It is not a choice, all of us will die and I just bet you would love for you family to be able to say, he was an organ donor and he saved lives. Even though Mallory’s first donated liver did not last very long without it she certainly would have died. We are now connected to two other families, we will never meet these families but they will always hold a special place in our hearts. My point in this whole story is organ donation and the shortage we have with people being donors. People die every day waiting, here are a few facts:
Almost 100,000 men, women and children currently need life-saving organ transplants.
Every 12 minutes another name is added to the national organ transplant waiting list.
An average of 18 people die each day from the lack of available organs for transplant.
90% of Americans say they support donation, but only 30% know the essential steps to take to be a donor. Do you know the steps? You can have it put on your license and you can sign a donor card; however the most important thing you can do is tell your family your decision to be an organ donor.
As you can see organ donation and making folks aware is a very important part of every day life at the Smith house. We still get to see Mallory’s smiling face and that my friends is enough to make me want to spread the word about the importance of organ donation.
Have you told your family of your decision to be an organ donor?
Don’t take your organs to heaven…..heaven knows we need them here!!!
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