Earlier this week my Aunt was the recipient of a left lung transplant at the University of Maryland Hospital in Baltimore. For the past few years she has been living on oxygen as she battled a genetic lung disease that I can't even begin to pronounce. The procedure was a success and she is doing really well according to the updates I am receiving from family.
I am always amazed at the ability to improve or prolong human life through the death of another. Organ donation is so important. We humans talk about our legacy. How will we be remembered when we are gone? Organ donation is one way to leave a legacy of life, of giving, of recognizing that we are all part of the same human family. We need each other in life and in death.
We waste too much time on our differences when it is the things we have in common that are most important - we all have hearts that beat, lungs that breathe in sweet air, eyes that see, and vital organs that keep us going. Being willing to share those things we have in common with another person after you die is perhaps the greatest thing you can ever do. Think of the lives you change, the lives you save, the impact on the families. All of this is bigger than we are.
I send a prayer of Thanksgiving to the man who allowed his usable organs to be harvested to save or change the lives of so many people even as he lost his. Thanks to him, Sam's mom, my Dad's sister, my aunt Janet will breathe easier and be more comfortable in this next phase of her life.
Are you an organ donor? I am.
Peace.
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