A year ago yesterday, a family lost their 17 year old daughter in an automobile accident. Her grieving family made the decision to donate her organs. Fortunately, for our family, our 28 year old son-in-law (who was in kidney failure and on dialysis) was the recipient of one of her kidneys. I wrote this letter to her family.
To the mother/sisters who selflessly donated their daughter’s/sister’s kidney to our son-in-law:
Nearly a year ago, on September 29, our family received the long anticipated call from the IU transplant coordinator that a kidney had been obtained for our son-in-law. He was 28 years old and had been on dialysis for several years due to a genetic kidney disease called Alport’s Syndrome.(His brother also has this disease.) We made a hurried trip to IU Medical Center for the transplant performed on September 30, 2007. All the while, we knew that another family had suffered a lost of a loved one in order to give our son-in-law a new life.
He had managed to continue working full-time while on dialysis. His wife (our daughter) is a Type I (insulin-dependent diabetic), so their lives were consumed with medical concerns. Our son-in-law did well on dialysis while our family prayed for a long time for a new kidney that would be a perfect match for him. He had received one previous call from my transplant coordinator that a potential kidney had been found and after going through the excitement of that call, he was told it was determined that the doctors were not confident transplanting that kidney since he was such a young person. That was very disappointing. And while we prayed for a healthy kidney, in our hearts, we knew that someone would have to lose their life in order to give him a new life.
Our son-in-law recently received your letter (from donor's family). It was very touching and humbling. We hadn’t anticipated our response to hearing from the donor’s family, but it touched us deeply. Suddenly, we had a name and a life story to attach to the new kidney. I am so sorry for the loss your family had to experience to give life to our family. Your gift is a gift that we consider absolutely priceless and selfless. To tell you, “thank you” is so inadequate.
I pray that God has given you peace and comfort and strength to continue on without your precious daughter and sister. We can only imagine your grief and the empty hole that has been left in your family. It was encouraging to hear Amber was a Christian as our families are Christians as well. Our son-in-law has not have one complication during the transplant or recovery and he has never had one sign of rejection. Amber and Philip were a perfect match!
With gratitude beyond mere words,
Philip's mother-in-law
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