Heroes Of Hope

HEROES OF HOPE
by Ashley Tenczar Curran

I think it was the first time that I heard the words..”He needs a liver transplant”, that it all sort of sunk in to my brain, and I thought I had a grip on the situation.
That was before those words went on a journey through my soul, and landed in my heart.
“Transplant...Transplant...”
The words echoed through my mind, and I came to grips pretty quickly, as I had been a nurse,( only for six years, and never in the field of “high tech” nursing),
but I knew what it involved, and on some level I DID know it was a miraculous scientific procedure, and that it still has so many researchers and leaders in the field baffled with so many questions that still need to be answered.

The men and women who receive the news that they need an organ transplant, the news that tells them they will not live very long without this procedure,sometimes out of nowhere as a shocking revelation, are then told that they are going to have to WAIT.
. Wait to die, wait to live...it is not up to them.
These are the toughest of the tough.
These are soldiers of the medical world.
These men and women go through test after test, appointment after appointment. They are put under a microscope before they are able to even go ON the transplant list, and their entire life is spread out for all to see.
They endure:
Colonoscopies, sigmoidoscopies, endoscopies, EKG's, Stress tests, non-stress tests, weekly labs, CT scans, MRI's. Cardiac Catheterization, Lung function testing, Bone Density scans, biopsies, psychiatry evaluations, social worker asessments, and the list goes on.
They are often told that they cannot even go ON the Transplant List until they change something in their life, such as medications, or habits such as smoking, These candidates do it with a smile, because they understand how sacred this gift is.
Dozens and dozens of various Doctor appointments, sometimes at more than one hospital,and a candidate can have 7 or 8 Doctors at a time, and it is a full time job.

These people surge forward, and rarely complain,
For they know that they are getting ready to receive a gift like no other, a piece of someone's life.
The “Ultimate Gift”.
One that I truly believe that the God of MY understanding IS asking ALL of us to give, if we are able.

I can tell you this much:
If given the chance, most, if not all, of these Transplant Candidates and Transplant Recipients, would give of anything they had, to anyone in need, for any reason.

When “The Day” comes, and a potential matching organ is found,, these courageous people and their families usually have less than two hours to get to the hospital, and it is the race of a lifetime,because oftentimes if it comes down to it, the hospital will give the organ to the Candidate who arrived FIRST, as I have been informed.
( If they are both an equal match!)
They are then "urgently placed" onto a gurney, and the process begins.

I am told that sometimes they are sent home because they have a cold, or the organ was damaged, and that has to be grueling and traumatic.
Hopefully the call is a solid one. There is that "HOPE" word again...
While they are being opened up, another family may be grieving, on the worst day of their life.
This is often an issue I have heard shared in the admittedly small cache of information I have read about Transplant Survivors.
Their “cure” can come from another fellow human's demise.
But think, as a human, that there is always a chance you will be hurt, or even killed suddenly. This is a sad fact. and not one we really want to ever think about.
But we do, and I KNOW we do because we take out life insurance, property insurance, and we write wills, journals, keep scrapbooks, and photo albums.
So, we DO think of our sudden death as a possibility, we cannot ignore that fact!
Then think of the legacy you will leave behind you, in saving somebody else's life, giving comfort to your own family that you gave of yourself the biggest way you could.
I would imagine that all of us would like to leave a legacy, and here is a chance to do it!
To me there is no question of which “box” to check at the Registry of Motor Vehicles, or to go to the internet to find out other ways to register, there are PLENTY of sites that give information on this subject, believe me.
The Transplant Recipients that I have come across would ALL give whatever they could if asked.
If God asked them to tear their heart out and give it to a person next to them, they would.
And they DO.
After their long ,serious and critical "post-transplant" course,
Most of these individuals, after they have had their transplant, look at life in such a way that you or I would deem it almost a spiritual divinity.
They DO “tear their hearts out”, by sharing their experience, giving talks at medical forums, at Universities, and at support groups.
They are all over the Internet, promoting funding and research and giving of themselves in any way they can.

Even though a lot of them are still sick,and still recovering from the terrible battle that was waged on their body, they can find the time and energy to work thru the pain and to march out and give and give...as much as humanly possible.

NOTHING keeps them from living their life to the fullest.
And NOTHING keeps them from remembering where they came from.
and NOTHING will EVER make them forget to remember the DONOR that saved their life.

Post Transplant Survivors give back to those who are still on the path to" re-birth", and to those who are suffering, and struggling.
These Transplant Survivors muddle through their own pain, their own regimen of more tests, more medications, more exams, and yet they have time to help those whom are sick and suffering, and are coming behind them, and they do it, I believe, because they want to carry the torch of HOPE.

Without HOPE, most of these vivacious ,humble ,and compassionate men and women would not be alive.
They would have given up on the 55th procedure, or the 80th doctor's visit, or when they are on their bathroom floor, too sick to even sit, or unaware if they are in the hospital or at home, and too sick to care.
They have been to the edge.
They could have given in, and let their bodies illness consume them.
They NEVER give up.
They decide to embark on the battle of a lifetime, their own.
And they WIN more often than not.
There is a common saying that says: “Some may die so that others may live”.
I think that is the perfect way to describe what transplant recipients already know in their hearts, and they hold fast to this thought.
They take it very seriously.
They hold memorials for their “donors”, even if they do not even know their name, or any other demographic information.
They have their own way, every year, of remembering the gift, and honoring the loving person who gave of themselves.

So the question I now challenge the humanity in us all is:
WHY are we not putting these Donors, these Recipients, and their families on the airwaves? We show grown adults skulking around a fake island, or Paris Hilton's newest “Best Friend”, but we forget about the men and women, and CHILDREN,(because THEY are waiting the longest for organs, and dying the most without a donation.)
Why are we not talking about this issue? Why is there not a "reality" show about Transplantation, showing candidates, survivors, and donors and the process they go through to get an organ, the children I spoke of, can anyone honestly tell me they would not watch a program like that over a program about Paris Hilton choosing a FRIEND????
I get so angry, but anger motivates, and so mabye it is a good thing.

The “News” stations have no problem portraying animals who need homes, children who need homes, and those are just and beautiful ways to call out to the humanity in people, and the responses are excellent, and good and loving homes are found.
So, why can't we put the same call out and show thousands of viewers examples of people who need part of an organ, like a liver, which can regenerate itself.
This is a caise that I KNOW people would find just, and they would watch it and come forth with their offering, because I believe that people are inherently good, as we saw on 9/11, and other disasters where people jump in their cars and travel for hours just to be able to do something...anything, to help another child of the God of our own understanding!
Every week we see John Walsh pleading for help in solving murder cases, and that is his cause, and it is a noble one.
But why can' tthe same type of urgent plea become a show or a regular news spot on our "television Lineup"?
We need education on the billboards, the subways, at Fenway Park, wherever we can reach human beings would be fine with me!
People die every day from lack of organs, and lack of public education on organ donation.
Most of us just don't truly take notice of the subject, until it touches our life, as in my case, sadly, but I can honestly say I AM a registered organ donor, and have been since I got my Driver's Liscence. It was never a question to me when I looked at the box you check about donating your organs, even as a teenager, I never saw it as a choice, I saw it as a duty to God for giving me such a wonderful life.
But by the same token, most of us do not take an interest in murder victims, such as the ones on “America's Most Wanted”, until WE see IT being taken seriously, as a group effort, and this triggers a response of people wanting to be a part of a group effort,in their heart, and to make the world a better place!

It has touched my heart. I have become a better person because of a group of people I met at a transplant support group online.
I am a “caregiver”,and my husband is hopefully going to get a liver transplant when God allows it.
I watch him struggle, and I cry for him at night.
I watch him grow thin,even over the period of one year, he looks as if he has aged 30 years.
The group is my rock now. They are with us every step of the way.
It is a testimonial to the new life they have been given, and when you read what they went through to get this gift, and they tell you only to inform you, never to complain, and when you hear how some have had a “heart and two lungs”, transplanted, or a pancreas, or liver or bone marror, intenstines, and yet THEY are consoling YOU on the” bad day” you had at the doctor's office, something inside of you grows, a type of strength, created by the absolute “awe” I find myself in listening to these fighters, these survivors.
They have been to the edge, they have been given “three to four days”, and LIVED to tell about it!
They have lost their jobs, gone bankrupt to pay for the surgery and all that goes with a Transplant, and yet they have all the material posessions they need, which is next to nothing, but they care not, because they have friends, and family, and love, and a new life.
They have given up, they have had their spouses leave them two weeks after they had a heart transplant, they have been cheated on, lied to by doctors, family members, and others, but still they are here, and they are at peace.
They hurt, they worry, they get angry, they get sad, they mourn friends who did not get their organ, and still they are here to lift US up when we are in need.
They are sons and daughters of Transplant Recipients, particularly a young man who took care of his mother for a long time, devoting his life at such a large cost to his life, and he did it with pride, and love, and if you ask him if he would do it again, he would tell you “ten more times”.
They get called to the hospital, they get told “this is it! Your kidney is here! Yout lung, liver, pancreas, or heart is here! And they rush to get their new organ, and they get on the table, and they get sent home because the organ got damaged in the delivery. Yet they know they are close, and so they keep looking forward, never giving up.
Sometimes they die. They leave this world without their organ, and those who were closest to them will tell you that they are certainly at peace, because they have been to the “edge” more than once, and it made them a better person for it, and they have atoned for things they would not have made amends for before they got sick, They had the courage and the chance that they would tell you not many people get to have..
.The time to tell the people they love that they are cherished, appreciated, and held in the highest of esteem.
They mend fragile relationships, they say “I love you Dad, and I always will”. They say “Don't cry Mom, we will see each other again!” They do these things with absolute humility.
They go on before us, and make a path of righteousness.
We learn from ALL of these “Heroes of Hope”. We now know that life is precious, and tomorrow is never promised to anyone.
We learn about giving, and loving on ALL the days of the week, not just on Sunday or when we feel like being “righteous”.
We learn, and we carry their hope and their memory on to the next hero.

And when that happens, when God ends the suffering of one of His children, and takes them home, he leaves behind their spirit, and that spirit then becomes an angel.
I have come to believe a lot of things since the day I learned my life would never be the same, nor would my husband's.
I learned that the Angels are here, and so are the Heroes of Hope.

Dedicated to AFDTAS...