The Gift of Life

As many of you know, in June of 1993 my brother, Scott, was killed in an automobile accident. It was truly the toughest thing our family has ever had to face. In times of tragedy many people will say that somehow something good will come from it. But, when you are the one who is affected by the tragedy, you often ask yourself, how? How can anything good come from the loss of someone's life, especially when they're so young? I am here to tell you today, that though there is nothing that can ever replace my brother, nor stop the pain you go through, that through the tragic loss of Scott's life, a gift of life was being given.

In one of my first blogs, I went into detail about the accident. You can read more about it at:

http://kristaeisma.blogspot.com/2010/03/my-testimony.html.

Today I am not talking so much about the tragedy, but I am going to talk about the miracle that happened through the tragedy.

One of the decisions my sister in law and parents made in the hospital was the consent for Scott's organs to be donated. Little did we all know at the time that just 4 days earlier a man, we would know later as Jack, was told if he didn't have a heart transplant soon, he was going to die. The challenge would be to find a heart that "matched" in time.

On June 26, 1993 Scott died. Very shortly afterward I remember looking at the front page of the Mail Tribune and reading a story about how Jack, who had also been from Central Point, received his miracle heart. Throughout the article there were so many similarities, we immediately knew, and it was later confirmed that Scott's heart had been the match Jack needed.

Though it was good to know that through one man's death, the gift of life was given to another, it would take years for my parents to emotionally be able to meet and talk to Jack. When the meeting did take place, it was kind of surreal. As we sat in the restaurant, all of us crying at one point, Jack talked about how thankful and truly blessed he felt to be alive. He was very compassionate towards our loss, as he explained what he had been doing since the transplant 10 years earlier. He had made it his mission to get completely involved in speaking to people about the importance of being an organ donor, as he told his story all over the country. He also played an intricate part in donor and recipient families meeting. To our suprise, he did this all in the memory of Scott. He even had his obituary in his wallet, where it had remained all these years.

That was the only time we met Jack and his wife Joan. I believe I was pregnant with my 8 year old son Timothy at the time. However, a couple of weeks ago my Mom decided to try to get in contact with him again. She was successful, and he was beyond excited to talk with my parents. We are looking to meet up again, and he is still speaking on behalf of being an organ donator, all the while Scott's obituary is still in his wallet.

To read part of Jack's story go to: http://www.vowelscommunications.com/story2.html