Back and Better

It’s been a while since I’ve written. A little over three years to be exact. A lot has changed in that time. The last time I wrote I was waiting for another liver and kidney transplant. After almost 2 years of countless dialysis treatments and hospital stays, I received my call on June 4, 2020. Keep in mind this was just a couple months after lockdown started. Waiting for a transplant during covid was extremely nerve-racking. For a while I didn’t know if I was going to be able to have a transplant due to COVID. Hospitals were not performing surgeries, doctors didn’t know if a COVID positive donor organ could be used, and of course there was a higher risk of immunocompromised people getting COVID. With COVID being newly out there and everyone not knowing exactly how bad it could get, my doctors were particularly cautious due to the unfamiliar territory of this new virus. This was all extremely scary for me especially considering how badly I needed new organs and not knowing what tomorrow could bring. Due to the advancements in modern research and medicine, this was all able to be figured out quickly and I was lucky enough to get new organs. However, there was nothing easy about my surgery. Because of my previous liver transplant, in October 2018, my internal system was not normal. During surgery I began to bleed and lost a lot of blood volume. I was transfused with over 80 units of blood products creating a city-wide shortage of my blood type (shoutout to all you blood donors). This transplant has been successful, knock-on wood, but I’ve had a few setbacks, a couple causing me to spend months at a time in the hospital. But we persevere.

I’ve gotten a lot of questions about if I know who my donor is. The answer is yes! Each Donate Life center has a program where donors/ donor families and recipients can write to each other. I chose to write to my donor’s family about 6 months after transplant and got a letter back from them soon after telling me all about their loved one. Their letter made me feel LG’s presence and taught me how I need to live out my life for her. We don’t talk often but I think about them daily. The hardest part about transplant that nobody talks about is that every day you are praying for a transplant you are also praying for someone else’s death. While you are celebrating your new life, another family is grieving the loss of someone they love. It’s a hard pill to swallow and I think about that every time I think of my donor’s family.

November 4, 2022 will mark 2.5 years since my second transplant. I’ve accomplished a lot in that time. I’ve been able to get back to school. I started out by just doing online classes because of COVID and I am slowly transitioning back to in-person classes. I changed my major yet again and am now studying health sciences with a minor in professional sales in hopes of pursuing a career in medical sales. I plan to graduate in the spring of 2023. My family and I have also been making up for lost time and have been traveling often to our favorite place, Pompano Beach, FL. When I am there, I feel the best I’ve ever felt. There’s something about the ocean that is healing. Overall, my health has been stable and I’ve been able to live a fairly normal life for a 24 year old.

I’m not going to lie, there have been a lot of hard, shitty times. I am lucky enough to have such a strong support system. My friends and my family have shown me a lot of love, grace, and patience. I would have never been able to get through any of this without them. This experience has given me a completely new outlook on life. I take things day by day and have learned to enjoy every moment, big and small. I always try to find the positive in every situation and don’t waste my energy on the trivial things. Good vibes only over here.

I cannot express how important it is to become a blood and organ donor. My organ donor literally saved my life. You can do register at www.donatelife.net. If you are in the Cincinnati area, you can also donate blood at your local Hoxworth center. My sister is always looking for people to go donate with her. She says she’ll buy you ice cream if you go with her! If you have any questions about organ donation, I am always available to chat.

Be brave and donate life!