By Just L Date: 2010 Jun 14 Comment on this Work [[2010.06.14.14.06.19688]] |
Heart transplants are a funny thing. Someone has to die. In the movies, and on those rare occasions in real life, a heart transplant requires someone else to die. We just never expect it to be us! And just when one thinks they cannot exert a great deal of energy, let alone breathe...a miracle happens. Hope reigns, and if the transplant is successful, a new lease on life remains. Many patients report actual changes in their personality, in appetite or behaviors which reflect their donor. I most love this story: Retired lorry driver Jim Clark had never written his wife Maggie anything resembling a love letter in 42 years of marriage. In fact, he was an unsentimental man who avoided writing anything, having left school with only basic English and with little grasp of spelling or grammar. Six months after a heart transplant, he started writing poetry. He sat for hours, putting down verse after elegant verse revealing thoughts and emotions he did not even know he had. When he made contact with his heart donor's family, they sent him poetry their relative had penned which was remarkably similar to his own. 'It just couldn't be a coincidence,' said Mr Clark. While some have been nerve wrecked waiting for a heart transplant forever; I feel incredibly blessed to have been gifted a new one as I did not even know I needed one until it arrived! I never even had to agonize about my place on the list. How sweet is that?! Just L Written February 2009 after realizing that I had in fact recovered from a broken heart and found renewed hope |