REFLECTIONS

As we approach Easter, we should take a moment to reflect on how we were given another chance to live because of Jesus' death on the cross.
The hope of everlasting life is a strong conviction made by our Lord.
Organ donation gives us another chance to live a normal life.
Twenty-seven years ago, I wrote about organ donation. "Don't take your organs to heaven -- heaven knows we need them here."
LifeSource, an organ procurement agency, provided two chances for our daughter Tammi, who passed at age 22 on Aug. 29, 1995. She died in surgery having a second liver transplant.
Tammi received word on Good Friday night that she was getting a new liver the next day.
The gift of organ donation is a wonderful gift, a gift that our family will never forget and a gift that we hope we can give some day, or a gift that we can convince others to give.
Prior to her transplant, Tammi said that organ detonation was something she was committed to, not just as a possible recipient but as a donor. Tammi received that precious gift twice. Due to the nature of her condition, she was unable to donate her organs.
Tammi was recovering from her first transplant during the week we were observing National Organ and Tissue Donor Awareness Week.
Liver transplant survival statistics. According to a study, people who have a liver transplant have an 89% chance of living after one year. The five-year survival rate is 75%.
To prove that organ donations work in most cases, a friend of Tammi's, Patti Funni, is the oldest living female liver transplant in Minnesota at age 79. She had her liver transplant on Nov. 6, 1984.
Patti likes to tell the story that she got the call for a new liver when she was having liver and onions at a Scandia restaurant.
Patti wrote in Tammi's book, Never Forgotten, that she shared a zest for life and living with Tammi, surviving and walking in faith with Jesus Christ.
Patti said it is hard to walk a path with someone and then to have to say goodbye."
Tammi has another friend, Dan Baldwin, who had a liver transplant the same year as Tammi. He was 10 at the time and is still living. He resides in San Francisco.
Miracles do happen! Say a prayer at Easter time that miracles will come the way of those in need.
Grief is also something with which we must deal. Grief is all-consuming. Healing takes time. It's good to know others care. They may not know what to do or what to say; but they can pray.
I have written about Tammi in these columns previously and I continue to write about her journey because talking about it gives us healing.
If interested in reading more about Tammi Jo, please contact me at hlestrud@gmail.com.