A Tale of Two Families
 GLORIA,
recipient
Gloria was an active 37-year old wife and the working
mother of two small children when persistent tiredness
sent her to the doctor. Sure that she was just "stressed
out," Gloria was amazed when the doctors reported
that her blood work indicated the possibility of hepatitis.
Gloria was told to go home and rest so she left work
early and went home to take a nap. Weeks later, Gloria
awoke from a coma to discover that she had a new liver.
"I was angry and frustrated when I woke. I thought
someone had taken my liver and given it away. I was
in a hospital, and I knew nothing about how or why I
was there! My husband's hair had turned gray. My mother
looked 10 years older. I learned that my children had
been told their mother was not coming home. Then came
the grief as I realized that someone's death had made
my new liver available for transplant. And as I looked
at my family's faces, their pain, I knew that somewhere
another family was going through the same thing...and
I grieved for them."
 BOBBY,
donor
SUZI and MELISSA, donor family members
The week before Thanksgiving 1992, Bobby, husband and
father, collapsed at work with a brain aneurysm. His
wife Suzi and their children, Melissa and Matt, rushed
to a hospital a few miles from where Gloria lay in a
coma. As Bobby was being prepared for surgery, another
aneurysm destroyed his brain stem, causing his death.
Offered the option of donation, Suzi found comfort in
the idea that Bobby "would be walking with us somewhere
on this earth." But 16-year old Melissa was opposed
to the idea. She reconsidered after imagining that another
girl's father might be helped. The family consented
to donation.
THEIR STORY
Months later, Melissa wrote to her father's recipients,
using only first names. The organ procurement organization
that helped recover her father's organs arranged the
delivery of the letters to protect the privacy of donors
and recipients. Melissa received only one response--a
letter from Gloria, the recipient of her dad's liver.
Suzi was moved by the warmth and sensitivity of the
letter. Melissa and Gloria continued to correspond,
but didn't plan to meet, until fate took that out of
their hands the day both families attended a ceremony
honoring donor families. Suzi recognized Gloria, whose
picture had appeared in a brochure, gathered up her
family, and walked forward to meet the family who three
years earlier had become a part of her family's life....
In the years since Gloria and Suzi
met, they have spoken together many times of the benefits
of donation and transplantation, both privately and
in public presentations. They often hold hands as they
talk. Gloria has told Suzi of her grief for Suzi's loss
and her intention to be sure she is deserving of Bobby's
gift. Suzi says that her grief "turned to joy when
I discovered that my husband's death was not final but
had given five people a chance to live." Melissa,
who wrote in that first letter to Gloria that she hoped
a child had received one of her dad's organs and could
live to grow up, understands now that the gift that
saved Gloria's life also "saved" the lives
of her son Arylon and daughter Aquia, who came so close
to becoming motherless at ages 9 and 6. Gloria and her
family, who attended Melissa's wedding, are now helping
celebrate the birth of Melissa's little boy, Robert.
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