I am an Organ and Tissue Donor as of today.
As a mother seeing your only child hooked up to batteries and wires 24/7 to stay alive is not easy. But in all things I give thanks. He is alive with a smile on his face and I am thankful. My son never complains and never wavers in his faith.
When the doctors at Brigham and Women's Hospital gave him the news that he had been accepted to receive a heart and would be placed on the official heart transplant registry, sadness came over his face and he was quiet for a long time. The doctors said, "This news should make you very happy," because they were happy for him. He said, "I am grateful, but somebody has to pay the ultimate price so I can live."
Someone said, accept the gift because somebody wanted you to have it…
I said, "Son, however God chooses to gift you, accept the gift because life and death is not in your hands." I said, "Let us start praying right now for the gift, the giver, the family that we know not of, that God's will be done."
As I checked off the box on my license renewal — yes to becoming an organ and tissue donor — I am reflecting on this season and the true meaning of giving.