A Day to Remember

December 29th will always be a special day of importance for me. On this date in 2003, my friend and sister in law, Carrie, had a lung transplant.

Carrie was diagnosed with a rare lung disease called Primary Pulmonary Hypertension in 1997. She was told that she only had a couple of years to live. Fortunately, she made it much longer than that. Through countless doctors visits, procedures, administration of medicine and hospital stays she prevailed until her lungs had reached their end. She was placed on the waiting list to receive a donor set of lungs.

Early in the morning, seven years ago, I got a call from my then boyfriend. He told me that lungs had been found for his sister and that he would pick me up in fifteen minutes to head to San Francisco where Carrie was hospitalized and where the transplant would be performed.

December 29th, 2003 was a day of many up and down emotions. I'd find my self overcome with joy and excitement one minute, and then a bundle of nerves and anxiety and fear the next. If I were a gambling woman, I'd be willing to bet that everyone else felt the same way.

When the doctors took Carrie in to receive her new lungs, a lead weight was placed on all of our shoulders. For hours we waited. And then, just as quickly as the process had begun, it was over. She spent a few days in ICU, and then was moved to a regular patient floor of the hospital. When she was released to go home, the doctors allowed her to walk out the front doors on her own.

Since that day, Carrie has continued to amaze everyone around her. She skis, wake boards, travels, gardens and enjoys all types of animals. She is an inspiration to each person that she comes into contact with and I could not be more honored to call her not only my friend, but my family.

One aspect of this whole experience that still causes my eyes to well up with tears that sting is a young man named Joel Hanson. He was a sixteen year old kid who had just celebrated a great Christmas with his family. On a Saturday afternoon while at a friends house, he was shot in the head. His parents chose to have him be an organ donor and this is the reason that Carrie is here today. Every time she coughs, sneezes, or blows up an inflatable tube on the boat, I think of Joel. And I thank his family for giving us the gift of life.