You know how there are some articles that pop up in social media and for a while it seems like everyone is sharing them and talking about them, but you’re either looking for something else or just not hooked by the share and you skim past them? But then you keep seeing them floating up from several sources who you trust, and finally you click on it and read it? And you understand why everyone is sharing, and why you have to share too?
Yeah, this is one of those articles. Michael Curran, editor of the Ottawa Business Journal, got the call a month ago that no parent should ever get – his son had been badly beaten in a bar fight in Yellowknife, and was not expected to live. A horrible, gut-wrenching story in itself, but a tragedy wrapped in a love story. Because Michael’s son Emerson, a beautiful 20-year old boy, had told his mother one day that he believed in organ donation. Please read this sad, lovely story of loss and redemption and courage: My son’s tragedy turns to hope for others
Through the courage of Michael and his wife, Emerson donated his heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, pancreas and tissues. Michael wrote, “Emerson’s story is only half the story. There is another part of it that I do not know. It’s the story of 4,000 patients in Canada desperately waiting for donations that could miraculously save, or radically improve, their lives.”
Here’s my half of that story. As many of you know my father received a liver transplant in October 2001, when I was pregnant with Tristan. Without that transplant, I’m not sure my boys would have ever known their Papa Lou. One brave organ donor gave my boys a grandfather whom they love deeply, and they gave me the joy of finding a whole new way to love my dad. I’m so deeply touched by this gift that I simply don’t have the words to express it.
Please read Michael’s article, and please share Emerson’s story. And please, do more than just think about organ donation – talk about it with your family, make your wishes known, and be a donor.
