I became involved in organ donation when my wife, Carol, received a living kidney donation from her brother, Mike, in 1993. Carol survived for 26 years, until she succumbed to a heart attack in February 2019. The quality of Carol’s life was excellent with support from her transplant team, initially at the University of Minnesota Hospital where the transplant was performed, right up to her passing, when she had been supported by the excellent staff at the Guthrie Clinic in Sayre, PA.

Since Carrol’s transplant, her older brother and our niece have also had kidney transplants, both from living donors who are lifelong friends. We have witnessed the miracle of organ transplantation three times and consider ourselves blessed. There is no greater gift than the gift of life from a friend/living donor. I believe in this miracle and desire to share with the world what a wonderful experience we have had with organ donation, “The Gift of Life.”