Crystal

My best friends were born with a rare genetic liver disease. At birth Ashley was told that she would need a liver transplant. Her parents were told her disease was so rare that there was a 1 in a million chance it would ever happen again, and if they wanted to have any more children then to go ahead and have another one, so that child could meet Ashley before she died waiting for a transplant.

Along came Michelle several months later. Michelle was also diagnosed with the exact same liver disease and would also need a liver transplant to survive. Ashley and Michelle both received their transplants as toddlers thanks to people to GRACIOUSLY donated their children’s organs. I couldn’t imagine making that decision, but because of those parents, because of their children, Ashley and Michelle lived.

Unfortunately in 2011, both Ashley and Michelle (ironically) went in to kidney failure within months of each other. The anti-rejection medications they had been on all their lives had eventually damaged their kidneys. Both of them fell ill very quickly. Ashley wasn’t even on the transplant list for 48 hours before she got her kidney. A few months after that, I donated mine to Michelle.

Making the decision to donate your loved ones organs is one of the hardest decisions we can make, especially when it comes to making that decision regarding children. But if my son could no longer be here with me anymore, I wouldn’t want someone else to have to bare that same pain that I was going through as well. I just don’t know if I could live with myself if I let his healthy organs die knowing some baby/child out there needed them. Someone like my best friends who I never would have met if it weren’t for those kids who saved their lives.