thank you for the kind words! I hope that you have written to your donor family! I wrote my donor family every year for nearly 8 years. Before my 8th anniversary, I received a letter from the family of my donor! I can't divulge how I got it because at the time Mayo, and Lifesource did not allow recipients and donor families to correspond. That all has changed though, and the chance of getting a letter back is far greater than it was in 1992!!
In 2000 I received a letter from Mayo/Lifesource stating my donor's family had requested to exchange contact information! It took close to a year for me to receive the letter because it was sent to me c/o Mayo Clinic. That's the equivalent of sending it to me care of Delaware....
When I got the letter, I let it all sink in, and finally called the number provided. I immediately hung up lol. I called probably 6 times before I finally let it go to voicemail, and left a message.
Fast forward to Labor Day weekend in 2000. My wife, and then 2 sons (my wife and I adopted 3 siblings from Russia in 2009) drove from our home in Illinois, to Waterloo Iowa to meet the two surviving family members of my donor Carolyn. She had been a physical therapist for brain injury patients, and ironically enough, died from an aneurysm that burst in her brain.
My family and I spent the weekend with them sharing stories, and the "few" poems I had written to date. We visited their parents graves, broke bread together at their mom's favorite restaurant, and enjoyed each others company. Sadly one of the daughters has passed, but I am still in contact with the remaining daughter. Carolyn's husband passed away about a year after her, from heart complications.
This past November, my wife and I went back to Iowa to spend a weekend with Carolyn's daughter. I cannot tell you how happy we were all to see each other again! The daughter and I have been in contact over the last 23 years, and consider each other family. We have built a strong bond and friendship that would not have happened if not for the selfless gift of life given. Sadly however, none of the other recipients ever wrote to the family. Their loss...
I was the only one to write, and thus the only one to get to meet the daughters!
I hope that if you haven't written, or have written, that this encourages you, and all others to write either for the first time, or for the second, third, fifth... One never knows what will happen.
Nothing will happen if you don't write...
In closing I am going to include a poem I wrote. My writing is instantaneous...I don't plan to write, I don't sit down and say "I'm going to write a poem today"... my writing is a gift I've been given. The poems choose me, and when they're written. If you wish to see more of my work, look up Inspirational Poetry by Joseph E. Kralicek on Facebook, and leave me a message that you were there!
Sorry for the diatribe, I'm a writer! lol