The universe is big, its vast and complicated, and ridiculous. And sometimes, very rarely, impossible things just happen and we call them miracles. And that’s the theory. Nine hundred years, never seen one yet, but this would do me.
- Steven Moffat
Upon such sacrifices the gods themselves throw incense.
- William Shakespeare
Today’s a numerologist’s delight- 12.12.12- which, cynical sort that I am, seems like a random set of numbers that just happen to match. Still, a lot of people consider today’s date to be fortuitous, and so they’re engaging in all manner of major life decisions- getting married, buying a house, etc. I, and those close to me, have our own very different reason to celebrate today.
A year ago today, Erin’s brother-in-law received a kidney from our mutual friend, Liz. Burke had been quite ill for some time; the donated kidney he’d received from his brother-in-law a decade or so previously was failing, and he needed another transplant. When Liz learned that she has Burke’s blood type, she volunteered. Once the tests were completed, she turned out to be a match. The rest, as they say, is history…wonderful, heroic, life-saving history.
I’m still in awe of the mundane miraculousness of the transplant process. Over the course of about six hours, doctors surgically removed one of Liz’s kidneys and transplanted it into Burke’s body. Just like that. There’s far more to the process, of course, but that doctors can do this sort of thing so frequently and matter-of-factly borders on the miraculous…at least to this former History major. Not so very long ago, women regularly died giving birth. Today, technology has made the transfer of an organ from one body to another seem almost mundane…except, of course, to donors and recipients.
Just like that, two families were forever joined by the gift of life. A year later, Amy has her husband back. Olivia, Sophia, and Ethan have their father back. Watching a healthy Burke participating in life again has been a gift. For me it’s been a lesson about the wonderful things that can happen when people come together to help one another.
I first met Burke about five months prior to the transplant, so I’d only known him as the sick and struggling man he was prior to receiving his new kidney. Now he’s active and healthy and back to being Burke. If you didn’t know his unfortunate health history, you’d never know he was on his second transplanted kidney. Who knew one little kidney could accomplish so much?
The real heroes in this story were Liz and her husband, Brian. Liz was the one committed to the process by offering up her kidney to Burke. Whenever I see Liz, I still fid myself in awe of her selflessness. It takes a very special and angelic soul to endure what she did in order that Burke’s family might have him back. That’s the very definition of heroism, and for that Liz will always hold a very special place in my heart. To say that not many would be willing to make the sacrifice she did would be an understatement of epic proportions.
Brian wasn’t the one giving up an organ, but he acquiesced to his wife undergoing elective surgery in order to donate a kidney to Burke. He stood by while the woman he loves assumed some not insignificant risks. Sure, organ harvesting surgery is considered “routine,” but there’s nothing routine or risk-free about having an organ removed. Brian was as courageous as one could be under the circumstances, and he deserves credit for buying into the idea of his wife doing something truly heroic.
A year later, Burke’s fine…better than fine, actually. After some initial expected health issues regarding the transplant, he seems like anyone else. To me, that’s the best Christmas gift anyone who knows and loves Burke could have asked for.
We’ll be getting together later today at Burke and Amy’s home in Longview, WA, to celebrate the first anniversary of his new kidney. It should be fun, and it’ll give everyone a chance to celebrate an anything but mundane miracle. It’ll provide me the opportunity to revisit the emotions of that day and what led up to it.
More than anything, today will remind me what true heroism is.
Who knew one little kidney could accomplish so much?
