Need for Blood and Organ Donors Continues to Grow

Every single adult in the United States is carrying around the raw materials to save at least one life, and possibly more than one. Donation of organs, blood, bone marrow and even the stem cells contained in umbilical cord blood can help heal tens of thousands of people afflicted with terrible diseases, health officials say. But the need for most of these donations is growing, not shrinking. As of Feb. 10, 110,324 people were on a national waiting list for an organ donation, up more than 80...

A family who lost a life waiting

Donor awareness has become an important cause in our family. Not because we are a donor family or a recipient family, but because we are a family who lost a life waiting.  My son, MacKenzie, died February 16th while waiting for a heart transplant. MacKenzie was 13 years old. He was born with a heart defect called Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, in other words, the left side of his heart never developed. After all 4 of his surgeries, he came out with flying colors. He was a normal little boy...

Our Special Angel

My greatest fear after Kristen’s passing was that she would be forgotten.  The 13-year-old who danced, played the violin, quoted Shakespeare in everyday conversation, who sat nervously in a Paris restaurant, practicing in her head, so that she might order, by herself, in French.  A young girl who, even when ill, remained in perpetual motion: writing stories, poetry, designing costumes and recreating Gene Kelly’s choreography.  Then her story stopped suddenly.  Completely.Moments...

A new liver. A new life. A triathlete is born

My education regarding organ donation came fast and furiously, and after I had received the gift of life.   The pink dot has always been on my driver’s license; it seemed like “the right thing to do”.  I had no idea the implications of that simple dot.  I had no idea of the size of the transplant waiting list.  I had no idea of the nature of the decision that would be made by a family faced with honoring the profound vision behind the dot. My liver died suddenly for reasons that I...