Dear amazing Donor Family, 

 

Gosh, I am filled with so many emotions as I write this heartfelt note to you…

 

In 2015, you extended me, a complete stranger, the gift of life, through the gift of new lungs. I could finally breathe again… a gift we all so readily take for granted.

 

Because of YOU, I “get” to still be mom to the World’s 2 most beautiful mini men, now 14 and 11. I still “get” to be their shoulder to cry on.  I still “get” to be their loudest cheerleader and I still “get” to be here to tell them how much I love every tiny thing about them, each and every day! 

 

Because of YOU,  I still “get” to be a daughter, a sister and a friend to so many. 

 

Because of YOU, I still “get” to stand on mountains and I “get” to soar down them on my skis, with my beautiful boys, right there beside me!  

 

Because of YOU, I “get” to experience sunsets, sunrises, seasons changing and the simplest of every day moments. 

 

Because of YOU, I “get” to pay forward all of these gifts that I have been bestowed in my survival, and I “get” to passionately spread awareness about the power of organ donation, on stages all over the world. 

 

Because of YOU, I “get” to live this full and rich life, and never take a minute of it for granted.

 

Because of YOU, I love more deeply and I live more alive than ever before.  

 

Everywhere I go, “we” go together.  I stick my chest out to show YOU the world and the beautiful sights that we see together strong, on all of our adventures-from mountain tops to ocean beaches, and everywhere in between!  

 

YOU breathe in life to “our” every moment together.  

 

In my “previous life” as I now often refer to it, I was a poster child for health and wellness.  I served as a thriving sports chiropractor and kinesiologist, inspiring my community to attain its peak health status.  I was very happily married, a mom to 2 gorgeous babies (I was still nursing my youngest), and loving life!  

 

At 35 years young, I was shockingly diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (AML). It is a cancer of the blood that lies deep in the bone marrow.  I hadn’t even complained of feeling sick or unwell.  I had done a routine lab test in the spring of 2012 and went straight to the aquarium with my babies- it was this beautiful spring day, like any other.  

 

But in only instant, the life I knew was pulled out from under my feet having received a call from the lab while I was standing in the aquarium.  The voice on the other end of the line had such urgency and said that I needed to avoid all public places and go straight to the emergency room. I was blindsided.  

 

I was immediately admitted to hospital after learning my diagnosis.  I did not respond even to the harshest of chemotherapy regimens, known as salvage chemotherapy and I was awarded a terminal, 2 month prognosis.  I was denied all further medical care aside from palliative care moving forward.  It was just days after my 36th birthday and my boys were so tiny- just 2 and 5. 

 

If I had 2 months to live, I had a lot of living to do.  I fought to go home and I pursued any and everything in the natural health care realm and miraculously attained this glorious, “spontaneous” remission as it is known in the medical community. 

 

I then was eligible to receive a life saving bone marrow transplant, known to be the “cure” to prevent relapse from such an an aggressive blood cancer.  A complete stranger rose to help from halfway around the world in my time of need,  A young, hearty mountaineering adventurer from Germany!  I was gifted a 2nd chance!  Amazingly, I grew strong, back to hiking every mountain and back to being a busy, doting mama!  

 

However, this burst of good health was so short lived and I couldn’t seem to catch my breath.  My new, hearty immune system from my bone marrow transplant decided it did not recognize my own lungs and embarked on a fierce process of rejection, attacking my lungs as if they were a cold or a flu.  The process literally obliterated my lungs.  I fell to 80 lbs, I was prescribed full time oxygen and I had even lost much of my vision in this time due to high dose steroids.  It was all brutally hard.  If I walked across my kitchen, I felt as though I would lose capacity of all bodily functions as I had such little oxygen.  I was told I wouldn’t survive a summer cold.  

 

And then came YOU…. Right when I needed you most.  To be honest, I don’t know how much longer I could have held on.  I was so frail and so fragile then. I get tears in my eyes even now feeling the despair and hopelessness I had felt.  It was all so hard to know that for something great to happen to me, something terrible had to happen to someone else.  Really, how does one come to grapple with this?  It was by far my hardest time- mentally, physically and spiritually.  

 

And yet now, I am filled with happiest of tears to know all that I have been gifted through these last few years, through this gift of breath.  Wow, there truly re no adequate words of gratitude for which I can convey.  My boys also thrive because of YOU.  

 

Not a minute goes by that I am not cognizant of all that you’ve sacrificed.  I am overcome by your kindness, generosity and selflessness, and I promise you that I try so hard to pay these gifts forward in every way I am able.  I know well that you extended this gift amidst your most trying of trying times. It is my hope that this note brings some small comfort to know your loved one still shines on in so many beautiful ways.  

 

Tomorrow is Christmas Day.  It will be my 10th Bonus Christmas.  Thank YOU for making it all possible!  Merry, merry Christmas!  Here’s to all that lies ahead in 2021!!!  

 

All my love, xoxo.