Today was the official release of my book Nick’s New Heart.It was a wonderful party. I couldn’t have asked for a better one. My family and friends were there. Nick and I were kept busy signing our names and saying hello. Everyone there seem to be just as excited as I was. Dr. Kanter, Nick’s heart transplant surgeon and Dr. Miller the doctor that put him to sleep for the transplant surprised me with a visit. I could not believe they came. Many of my friends had driven over an hour to attend. I am humbled by the love and support I was shown today. 

Get a copy of Nick’s New Heart and let me know what you think of it.

While at the Transplant Games a donor family member told me something very profound. 

The group  of people around my table was asking me if I had had contact with Nick’s donor family. I was explaining that we had not, but we had written a letter of thanks. Some of the people were expressing now they were disappointed that their donor family had chosen not to make contact after the recipient had written numerous letters.

When most of the people had left one lady said to me, “I’m a member of a donor family. When you give a gift, you give a gift. You don’t always have to know what happens to the gift. You just give it.”     

We have just returned from the Transplant Games in Pittsburgh. We had a wonderful time despite Nick not winning any medals. But medals is not what the Games are really all about. The Games are about showing the world that transplants work, that transplants save lives. The Opening ceremonie is the emotional event. As the living donors walk in the crowd stands to applaud but the time the donor families enter is the most amazing. For over 30 minutes the thousands of people in the venue stand and applaud and applaud and applaud because everyone there knows that people like Nick would not be alive if it was not for the gift these families had given.

I wish more people outside of the transplant community would attend so they would truely understand what the Transplant Games are really all about.

The trucking company called to tell me the day and the time. My mom came to watch.  The driver had to parked the truck at the bottom  of our drive that winds up a steep hill. Mon, the boys and I met the driver. I took the first box off the pallet and immediately opened it. There below some sheets of styrofoam and a brown piece of packing paper was my BOOK! My book —what a great sound. It was a wonderful moment in my life. I had achieved something that I had worked hard for. I’m so proud of ”Nick’s New Heart.” 

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