August 6, 2010. I could not imagine September coming, much less a year later.
I was sitting on this bench when I heard the news. My husband laid down the hall, not far from where I was, and at the end of his bed was a big machine taking the job of his heart and lungs. It was his life support. We had been waiting for only two days since he was put on this machine – two months total – for a giving heart donor to be matched with him.
Every morning in those days I would wake up and think, “Would this be the day? Would we get a heart this day?”, with the inner turmoil of even thinking such a thought.
I saw him in his stark white lab coat and serious composure coming towards me on August 6, 2010 as I sat on this bench. It was mid morning, and I was sitting here in front of the elevators watching all of the people getting on and off. As I looked at each one of them I wondered about their story. How long have they been here? Is there’s worse than mine? Will they leave with their loved-one? The sun was coming in the wall of glass behind me. When I looked up I could see the helicopter. I wondered if it was returning from bringing us his heart.
He approached me kind of quickly, and I sat up straight ready to hear what was new, with my husband, laying down the hall, on life support.
“I think we’ve got a heart”, he said.
All that was around me, the people getting on and off the elevators, the sun shining through the window, the helicopter on top of the building, disappeared.
“I’m going to go down and look at it, and I will call you if it’s a go. We’ll be in surgery around 8:00 tonight if we take it.”
Joy and fear simultaneously overtook me. My life as I wished it to be hung over the hospital in those next 24 hours.
And God delivered a miracle.
Today we celebrate my husband’s one year anniversary from his heart transplant.
His old heart failed him with Cardiomyopathy, and through God’s grace, mercy, and love He gave us what we did not earn or deserve. He gave John the gift of more days of this earth.
Today my husband and I can do things together that were only in my dreams one year ago. He is more active than he ever remembers being. My heart in overfilled with humility and gratitude for this new life God gave us.
Here are just a few of our blessings over the past year:
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Pre-Transplant Hospital Visit- May 2010
 Easter 2011 |
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Waiting on a heart before life support – July 2010
 Spring 2011 with New Bike  John’s Heart Party in Atlanta – Post-Transplant – October 2010  First Time Outside in 31 Days – Post Transplant  John Outside Today  First “Real Meal” – Post Transplant August 2010  Celebrating Our 3 Year Anniversary – June 2011  Walking Around – Post Transplant September 2010  Playing Golf Today  War Wounds of a Hero – Post Transplant September 2010  5 Months after Transplant Shoveling Snow  The Hero Today  We’re Going Home after 43 Days  A Year Later |
My husband and I remember this day with overwhelming joy, but also with sincere gratitude and mourning. Today as we celebrate God’s gift to us, there is a precious family whose faces we do not know that is grieving over the loss of their loved one. We thank them deeply for their selfless gift of organ donation to us, and we continue to pray for their healing. Our hope is to one day meet their loved one in Heaven where we can thank him ourselves.
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