Eleven days of Christmas. Eleven days with thoughts from friends whose lives have been transformed by the gift from each organ donor and their family. (Thank you to everyone who sent us your words.) So, on the twelfth day of Christmas, one more bright light against a darker sky.
“When I received my transplant, my donor gave to me…
A longer life for me to be happy
Two Arsenal cup wins
Three playstations
Four Transplant Games
Five major ops, (you got to be kidding me……!)
Six GCSE’s
Seven ‘Fast and Furious’ films
Eight Croyde holidays
Nine Games medals
Ten more years with my dad, mum and brother
Eleven and many more friends who helped fundamentally
Twelve and more doctors, nurses, who cared for me.”
That’s from Ian, Luke Biggs’s dad, who knows well what Luke might have said (though Luke may still have surprised us all with something else!).
Ah, Luke. How much there is to say about Luke.
With Luke we all knew we were on to a good thing. A good friend. The very best sort of company to have when you are young, and in hospital, or recovering from a major operation, or celebrating together later with the team at the Transplant Games.
We just wanted it to last forever.
It’s not how it went. Luke had already had two transplants but needed a third, more complex still. He waited. His mum, dad and brother waited. We all waited, and in the waiting time we spent together we got to love each other more.
There was no last minute rescue. Sometimes all the love in the world isn’t enough to fix things.
Because of Luke’s first donors, those few short years touched so many of us. Touched? Collided with and changed us, in the kindest ways. Luke’s donors gave us the chance to see how a life, an ordinary life, even a short life, is really so very, very extraordinary. What greater gift…
Thanks for reading these Christmas blogs about the gifts of organ donors and their families. Have the conversation about organ donation and help others do the same. It might be ordinary but it could make an extraordinary difference for so many who are hoping for better times to come. May the New Year surprise you with kindness.