Back to the main site

Be an organ donor

BulldogsCadillac

BulldogsCadillac

Just some guy
Messages
4,211
Reaction score
1,924
Location
Dauphin, Manitoba
Such an emotional day today. My wife's cousin (who is like a brother to her) is having his liver transplant in Toronto today. After being diagnosed with PSC at like 14 years old he finally was officially listed for transplant the beginning of this year. Today, he is truly receiving the gift of life because of a living donor, who happens to be her little brother! Her cousin will have a second chance at life...his boys will have many more years with their Dad and his amazing wife will have many more years with her husband.
Only positive thoughts that they will both have a speedy recovery. My wife had tried to be a donor, but some valves or ducts or something wouldn't line up after they compared the MRI's. After being on his MB Sport boat it convinced my wife that upgrading the stereo was a great idea, I can never repay him for that!! :)

Her brother is out of surgery and awake, still waiting for her cousin to finish, been a long day starting at 6AM for the wives and parents waiting in the wings. There are no words to describe how proud I am of my BIL. He is a police officer, a dad, a husband, and has put everything on hold to give a new beginning to someone else.

Sign your card, register online, whichever you have to. I can assure you that the recipient and their whole family will hold the gift received from a possibly tragic event in the highest regard, with many tears of thanks.
 
Glad to hear all went well Derrick.
 
cwag911 said:
Glad to hear all went well Derrick.
Click to expand...
Well we're still waiting for the update on the recipient, so far so good, thanks Carl.
 
Uplifting story Derrick. Thoughts and best wishes to your families. Keep us posted!!
 
Oh, and donor, it’s on my license.....
 
Well said! Organ donors truly give the gift of life.
 
Hats off to your BIL. Give him a bear hug when he's able to endure it. I signed up to be an organ donor in 1990. They can take anything they want...after I'm done with them.

I carry in my wallet a tattered copy of a Dear Abby column with the following letter. I wrote a special note on it to my wife. (She's aware of my wishes but never seen the note.)

TO REMEMBER ME by Robert Test

"At a certain moment a doctor will determine that my brain has ceased to function and that, for all intents and purposes, my life has stopped.

"When that happens, do not attempt to instill artificial life into my body by the use of a machine. And don't call this my 'deathbed.' Call it my 'bed of life,' and let my body be taken from it to help others lead fuller lives.

"Give my sight to a man who has never seen a sunrise, a baby's face or love in the eyes of a woman.

"Give my heart to a person whose own heart has caused nothing but endless days of pain.

"Give my blood to the teenager who has been pulled from the wreckage of his car, so that he might live to see his grandchildren play.

"Give my kidneys to one who depends on a machine to exist from week to week.

"Take my bones, every muscle, every fiber and nerve in my body and find a way to make a crippled child walk.

"Explore every corner of my brain. Take my cells, if necessary, and let them grow so that someday a speechless boy will shout at the crack of a bat and a deaf girl will hear the sound of rain against her windows.
 
Wow. Hopefully they both make a full recovery. Humanity is still alive. Keep us updated.
 
I am a kidney transplant recipient and could not agree more. Going 8 years with my brothers kidney. I inherited this disease and it has ravaged my family for generations. Because of the blessing of a kidney transplant I am the first family memener to have the disease to make it past the age of 50.
 
Last edited:
Haven't heard any more this morning. He finally got out of his 12 hour surgery(!) and I guess it was a lot more intricate with the state his ducts(?) were in. Apparently the Dr told the nurse numerous times to go and give the family an update since it was much longer than the expected surgery time....she never did!!! So if was a very stressful waiting room. BIL donor is doing well, cracking jokes because the Dr said he "had just a beautiful liver"

Sunedog - that is a very touching clip, it made me tear up thinking of everything currently going on, thanks!! Haha
 
So BIL got to eat jello and apple juice so he was super excited about that! Ha
They got him up sitting in a chair and that went well, he seems to be doing so good

The cousin (recipient) just finally got the intubation tube removed. He is having a lot of pain, I'd imagine because his body has such a high tolerance for pain meds they will have a bit of a difficult time getting it managed. Even though he was literally crying in pain this morning he wrote on a paper..all he wanted to know was how was BIL doing!

That made me tear up, his concerns weren't for himself, just another reason he is so deserving.
 
So on our forum we worry about, what color, what size, how fast, how long, how big, how many toons,trailer it ,dock it, clean it and how much fuel it holds. We are a pretty lucky bunch aren't we, no real worries in life. BulldogsCadillac hope all goes well for everyone involved. Prayers for all !
 
ILLINOIS AVE said:
So on our forum we worry about, what color, what size, how fast, how long, how big, how many toons,trailer it ,dock it, clean it and how much fuel it holds. We are a pretty lucky bunch aren't we, no real worries in life. BulldogsCadillac hope all goes well for everyone involved. Prayers for all !
Click to expand...


My transplant made me realize how short it all is and that you try to do what you enjoy in life as much as you can. That is why I love boating as it bring me close to loved ones and friends.
 
Last edited:
Just a quick follow up to anyone interested, so far so good! BIL has had all the tubes and iv's removed, they are both up and walking the halls together. My cousin has been moved out of the ICU and is in the "step down" room now.

Another hard thing for both of them is that kids aren't allowed in these areas ,so both families have friends looking after them back home. Thank goodness for Facetime and such. The BIL will hopefully get out of the hospital by the weekend or early next week, lousy thing is they want him to stay in Toronto until first week of August. That's a long time in a hotel!

I am so proud of my BIL and his family for giving the gift of life. It is a very demanding thing, not only the emotional and physical, but also the financial. The expense of flying to Toronto a couple times, the month long hotel bill, the months off work, it takes a pretty amazing person. The physical, especially for him being a police officer, will be hard as well. He is actively involved in the Crossfit competitions, which obviously will be on hold for quite some time. Heck, I'm not sure I could have even had all the tubes and wires hooked to me!!

Well this post is long enough, I don't want to bore you all, so from here on out, no news is good news!! Thank you all for your comments and sharing experiences. I love this "boat" forum!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top