ORGAN DONATION

To Remember Me

                                       by Robert Test

      The day will come when my body will lie upon a white
  sheet neatly tucked under four corners of a mattress located
  in a hospital busily occupied with living and the dying. At a
  certain moment a doctor will determine that my brain has
  ceased to function and that, for all intents and purposes, my
  life has stopped.

      When that happens, do not attempt to instill artificial life
  into my body by the use of a machine. And don't call this my
  deathbed. Let it be called the Bed of Life, and let my body
  be taken from it to help others lead fuller lives.

      Give my sight to the man who has never seen a
      sunrise, a baby's face or love in the eyes of a
      woman.

      Give my heart to a person whose own heart has
      caused nothing but endless days of pain.

      Give my blood to the teenager who was pulled
      from the wreckage of his car, so that he might live
      to see his grandchildren play.

      Give my kidneys to one who depends on a
      machine to exist from week to week.

      Take my bones, every muscle, every fiber and
      nerve in my body and find a way to make a
      crippled child walk.

      Explore every corner of my brain. Take my cells, if
      necessary, and let them grow so that, someday, a
      speechless boy will shout at the crack of a bat
      and a deaf girl will hear the sound of rain against
      her window.

      Burn what is left of me and scatter the ashes to
      the winds to help the flowers grow.

      If you must bury something, let it be my faults, my
      weaknesses and all prejudice against my fellow
      man.

      Give my sins to the devil.

      Give my soul to God.

      If, by chance, you wish to remember me, do it with
      a kind deed or word to someone who needs you.

      If you do all I have asked, I will live forever.

Reprinted courtesy of The Living Bank
Written by Robert N. Test
First published in "The Cincinnati Post"

I first read this in Dear Abby years ago and then again in a newsletter from THE LIVING BANK. And yet even after all these years of reading and re-reading it, it still touches my heart.

I would like to tell you about my experience with organ donation/transplantation. My decision to become a donor was after reading the above poem about 18 years ago. Little did I know at that time how close to home it would come.
Well about 6 years ago I was working as a flag person for a highway construction company. One day on a job we were on this truck pulled up with a load of black top for the job. When I saw the driver my heart gave a little flip-flop. I told him he would have to pull over until they were ready to have him dump the black top into the paver. Well to make a long story short I ended up marrying that truck driver about a year later.
We were so happy for about a year and a half, then he(my husband Ed) started feeling tired all the time and his legs and feet would swell. He would get so tired that he would fall asleep at the supper table. After about a month of my nagging him to see a doctor he finally went. The doctor took one look at him and said "You are a very sick man!" It took about 2 months of going to different specialists and several hospital stays and a battery of tests to find out he had the HepatitisC Virus which had destroyed over 90% of his liver!!!
We were told by one doctor & hospital that there was nothing they could do for Ed! Well, thanks to our family doctor Ed got an appointment at the UPMC Transplant Center who told us they could help!! It was music to our ears! So, after going through more tests and evaluations, Ed was accepted to the transplant list. Then we started the wait.
Every day Ed was getting sicker and sicker. He was jaundiced, nauseated and the swelling in his legs and feet got so bad that the fluid started to leak from the pores in his skin. But as we soon found out that was not the worst. Because his liver was not functioning fully it was not getting rid of the ammonia in his body. That is when the hallucinations started. Sometimes it got so bad he was not sure what was real and what wasn't. Also about that time the fluid build up was so bad that he was having trouble breathing. The doctors finally decided it was time for Ed to go to the hospital. Tubes were inserted into his chest and abdominal cavities to drain the fluid. He lost approximately 128 pounds in 2-3 days!!! It was all fluid. We had to hang in there though and hope they would find a liver soon. After being hospitalized for about 2 1/2 to 3 wks the news came, they had found a liver!!! Talk about emotions, I was so happy and laughing one second and so worried and afraid and crying the next!! I prayed and thanked God for our fortune but I also asked Him to watch over the donors family in their time of sorrow. I will forever be grateful to the donor family. They are so wonderful because even though they were going through the loss of a loved one they were able to see through their grief and genorously give the "Gift of Life" to a stranger they may never know.
This all happened 2 years ago and Ed is getting stronger every day. The liver continues to work. I will not say everything is fine, he has had setbacks but they are due to the Hepatitus C virus and also the side effects of some the medications he has had to take. The last test he had for the HepC was negative, so we are praying the medication he has been taking for that has worked. Ed will be on medication for the rest of his life and may have 'off' days but we thank God every day that he is still here and because of that every day is wonderful!!

*OTHER ORGAN RECIPIENTS STORIES*
	Pat Majeski David Craig Hilton Amy's Transplant America Page... A real must see page!!

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HOUSTON CHRONICLE.COM-SPECIAL REPORT: ORGAN TRANSPLANTS
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BILIARY ATRESIA AND LIVER TRANSPLANT NETWORK
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AMERICAN LIVER FOUNDATION
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