National Donate Life Month 2017

April is National Donate Life Month.

From the Donate Life website:

National Donate Life Month (NDLM) was instituted by Donate Life America and its partnering organizations in 2003. Celebrated in April each year, NDLM features an entire month of local, regional and national activities to help encourage Americans to register as organ, eye and tissue donors and to celebrate those that have saved lives through the gift of donation.  

 National Donate Life Month 2017  

Donate Life America was inspired by the concept of the pinwheel for the 2017 National Donate Life Month artwork. A pinwheel evokes various images and meanings, but the strongest association revolves around opportunity and energy.  

The pinwheel is symbolic of an instrument that turns obstacles into opportunities...

"...an instrument that turns obstacles into opportunities"

Organ donation saves lives. This awesome gift from my donor family has saved mine, and for that I am eternally grateful.

Registering is as easy as clicking on this image and submitting your information:

You can also register via your local DMV or even on your iPhone with the iHealth App.

You can be a Superhero. You can save lives and help improve the lives of dozens of people. You can leave a legacy of... Life.

Thanks, I appreciate you reading this to the end, and I double appreciate your registering to be a Donor. You are Awesome!

The Gift

I watched the trailer to this new documentary on transplants this morning and... wheew, it was surprisingly emotional for me.  I don't think I could make it through the movie.


THE GIFT - Official Trailer from ID Productions on Vimeo.

"The Gift is an uncompromising cinematic journey alongside the living and the dying, filmed with remarkable access to one of the world’s busiest organ-transplant hospitals. In cinéma-vérité style, we witness the most profound experiences in any human life: moments of unbearable suspense leading to sudden and senseless loss, or the unexpected joy of a second chance..."

This looks like an important documentary and I hope it is well received and very widely distributed.  But having been on the edge, waiting for the gift of life saving lungs, it hits a little too close to home for me at the moment.

Maybe by the time it comes out...

Remembering my Donor Family

This is Memorial Day weekend and tomorrow is set aside as a day to remember those who have given everything for the defense of our country and way of life. These national heroes deserve our respect and remembrances.  I served on submarines, and tomorrow I will be especially thinking of those who lost their lives in the Silent Service.

For today though, I would like to honor my donor, and my donor family.  Without them I would not have been able to see my youngest daughter cross the University of Delaware stage and receive her diploma on Friday.

I was not able to attend in person, but watching a live webcast was still pretty awesome.  I was able to let her know just how proud of her I am and to be a part of her special day.  While at a family get together last Thanksgiving, her boyfriend took me asked if he could marry her.  He is a great guy and I am so excited for them both.

Without the lifesaving gift of my new lungs, I would not have been a part of either of these milestones in my daughter's life.  Now I can look forward to walking her down the isle one of these days :)

My donor lost his (her?) life early in the evening on January 31st.  The holiday season will never be the same for my donor family.  While they were getting ready to celebrate the new year, they find out that a loved one has passed.  In the midst of this grief and heartbreak, this wonderful family made the decision to offer the gift of life to me, and to several others waiting on one transplant list or another.

This selfless gift gave me the opportunity to enjoy my daughter's graduation from college and to let her boyfriend know that I approved of their relationship.  I can be here for my other daughters when they need me, and be Papa John to our grandchildren.

My donor, and my donor family truly are Superheroes.

Do you want to be someone's Superhero?  Register to be an organ donor today.

National Donate Life Month

Have you ever dreamed of being a superhero? You don't need to be able to leap tall buildings or run into burning buildings to save lives and become a real life superhero.  Registering to be an organ donor is easy and can save lives.

From Donate Life America:

Transplantation is one of the most remarkable success stories in the history of medicine. But despite continuing advances in medicine and technology, the need for organs and tissue is vastly greater than the number available for transplantation. Transplantation gives hope to thousands of people with organ failure and provides many others with active and renewed lives

I am one of those people who have benefited from an organ transplant.  If it were not for the wonderful give offered to me by my donor family, I would not be alive today.  They are true superheros.