Become An Organ Donor! — Laura’s Personal Story + Plea

With any traumatic story, there's almost always a "you never think it'll happen to you" feel to it. Today, it happened to my family.

My uncle, a non-smoking, former private pilot, was suffering from a rare lung disease for the past few years. It got progressively worse, landing him on the waiting list for a lung transplant. Anyone who's experienced this knows how long that wait can be...and with an O(-) blood type, it was even more challenging.

Long story short (most of it I already blubbered over on the air...), I got a text at 10:45 last night saying a donor had been located. 12:45 this morning, my uncle went into surgery...and at 6:15 a.m. I received another text from my cousin saying he was out of surgery and the lung was in. Needless to say, the family is thrilled.

I can't help but remember though...while we celebrate, another family had to say good-bye, so please join me in sending prayers, not only to my uncle and family, but to the friends and family of the donor.

I hosted an event a few years ago for the New York Organ Donor Network and learned the most powerful phrase...that rings even MORE true today for me:

"Please don't take your organs to heaven. Heaven knows we need them here."