We arrived safe and sound in Kentucky on Thursday nite and have been having a wonderful time. For those who don't know, we are here with my folks for the US Transplant Games in which my Dad plays golf. This is our first time to the games, but Drew has been before when my folks took him in 2000 to the games in Florida.
Last nite we went to the Northern California Team dinner. There were about 80 people there that included athletes, spectators (families like us) and donor families. It was so touching to see donor families there. Once family was a mom and dad whose son was a northern California police officer killed in the line of duty who donated his organs. This family comes to all the transplant games to honor their son!
I met a guy who had 2 heart transplants - one in 1999 when he was terminally ill and lived for 6 months with a experimental "bionic" heart. He was an FDA experiment and survived long enough with a mechanical heart to get a new one. In 2000 he got a real heart transplant and is healthy enough to compete in the US Games, the Candian Games, the UK Games and the World Games!
All the organ recipients had their own personal stories, no one less amazing then the next. Lots of liver and kidney transplants. The guy next to me at dinner was a 13 year kidney transplant survivor who received his kidney from his younger sister.
After dinner we went over to the hotel to register for the events. Lining the halls were rememberance quilts with each square made by a donor family in memory of their loved one. Truly a humbling and touching experience. I can't even put words to it. Watching Drew was an experience in and of itself. I think it is the first time he realized the significance of his Grandpa's heart and the sacrifice that someone made for his grandpa to live. There were lots of questions about living donors and cadaver donors.
The opening ceremony is tonite and it is sure to be a tear jerker.
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