Contrary to what it seems, I do have a life that doesnt revolve around "the boy".
And this is a post dedicated to that other part of my life.
I have a friend who 6 years ago got a double lung transplant, and the age of 16. She had cystic fibrosis, and she very nearly died. The title of this post is one of her favorite sayings.
She is in rejection and they cant treat it because she also has a fungal infection and if they give her the anti-rejection drugs it will knock out her immune system so that the fungal infection would take over and kill her. So, they treat the fungal infection, hoping, praying that they can get rid of it and then treat for rejection. But the only cure for rejection is another transplant.
In honor of this friend, I will tell you how our lives have intersected at various points in time.
I first met her when I switched high schools from BHS to BCHS as a sophomore. We were in the "Gifted" program together. We had a class "Gifted Seminar" where the final project was to come up with a 5 page paper and a 15 minute presentation on a topic of your choice. I had just gotten Payton and so I picked "Training a Service Dog" as my topic and my friend's health was declining fast, and so she did her presentation on Lung Transplants. We both did something that we were actually experiencing, although it wasnt until school had let out for the summer that she got her transplant. There were complications, she didnt do very well for a while and she was not really close to home at all. She was in St. Louis.
Later that summer- about mid-July. My mom, grandma, Payton and myself made the trek to Minneapolis for a vet conference. We drove and decided that on the way home St. Louis wasnt too far out of the way and that we would visit my friend. They were so glad to see friendly faces. I think it really meant a lot to them that we showed up. Some of our mutual friends said that they would go visit her, but I dont know that any of them actually made it to St. Louis.
She then came back to KY, but the asbestos that was growing in the walls of BCHS would have been fatal to her, so she had to switch schools and go to BEHS. She and I fell out of touch. But I always admired, and well still admire, her strength. She is very much a fighter.
I have seen her occasionally because she uses my mom as a vet and she has 3 dogs.
But last summer she got married. It was a beautiful, and rather eventful ceremony. It was a very hot July day and she had been sick with a fever all morning! Vomiting too. Poor thing. So we are listening to the preacher with ALL of his praying- it was a LOT of praying. And the next thing we know, she has passed out! Her soon to be husband caught her, held her, and if we werent already sure, we knew then that he was a keeper. lol (I should mention that he has also had a double lung transplant). She was fine after she cooled off, they finished the wedding and all was well. Yep, shes a trooper- getting married with a 102 fever and passing out, yet she had the biggest girly smile on her face the rest of the day.
Fast forward almost a year and her mom comes into the clinic. C isnt doing well, at all.
My heart hurts. I havent really had much contact with her other than what I have already written about, but this girl... this woman, is one of the toughest women that I know. And somehow, someway I need her to know that I am thinking about her.
So I get on twitter. "Follow" her, and we have exchanged a few tweets. I even uploaded a pic of Payton holding the silicone band that says "Organ Donation Works" with the caption of "Payton supports organ donation"
Bottom line:
Sometimes one can find strength in the people around them who have made the best of sucky circumstances.
Organ donation saves lives.
And prayers or thoughts for Christena are greatly welcomed by her family.
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