Donate Life

The National Kidney Foundation estimates that 350,000 people in the US have end-stage renal disease and about 67,000 people die of kidney failure every year. In the year 2000, 47,000 people in the US were waiting for a kidney transplant. The lack of organs available for transplantation is a serious problem. By signing a donor card, an individual indicates their wish to be a donor. It is important to share your wishes with your next of kin as they will be asked prior to a donation.

Thursday, January 3, 2008

The Dash Poem

Today we went to Grandpa Cecil's funeral. It was a celebration of his life. The number of people in attendance show how great of a man he is and how wonderfully caring his family is. Ryan, our donor, said some words that lightened the spirit and helped to explain why Cecil was taken from his family so soon after his own son Scott was taken. The day was inspirational and reflected the spirit I now know Cecil had. Cecil's wife, Marsha was the strongest one in attendance and even addressed the congregation. You could tell how proud she was of her husband, her marriage and her family. A poem was included in the program discussing the dash between the birth and death year on an individual's tombstone. The poem was beautiful. I had never heard it before. "What matters is how we live and love and how we spend our dash." It is so true.