So Grateful

I can't help but thinking that somewhere in the Central Valley there will be a Thanksgiving table set that is missing a place. That place belonged to the donor of my liver. Somebody's daughter, sister, wife, friend.....
I am so incredibly grateful for this gift of a better life that has been given to me by a stranger. How wonderfully kind and generous and compassionate.
I wonder if the decision was made long before or if it was made the morning I got the call to come to the hospital.
I think by now I would be on dialysis and the amyloid would be silently at work destroying other organs. Instead I cheer my weekly blood tests hoping my kidneys will be a little bit better. No more amyloid is being produced, so my other organs are now safe.
I am so grateful to this unknown young woman and her family. I am so grateful I can be with my family a little longer. Donating an organ truly is a gift of life.