Let’s talk about organ donation. I have been a die-hard advocate for organ donation previous to having personal experience with it. (Oof- is die-hard the correct choice of wording?)

Organ donation is literally the most complicated thing on earth.

I just want to start right there.

There is no perfect match, there is not an exact criteria, generally there are almost no rules, except that you have to follow every rule and all the perfect criteria has to match the exact match.

Does that make sense? Yeah, same.

Let’s rewind to 12 years ago though. In 2014, our cousin Kyle passed away in a tragic accident. He was only 22 years old and his parents made the decision to donate his organs so that he could give the gift of life to others. After his donation, his parents received a letter from the New Jersey Sharing Network letting them know some of the lives he had saved. I will never forget reading that letter and thinking how proud they must have been, while even at the expense of his own life, he saved the lives of all these strangers.

Years later, in 2018, our friend Sarah was the recipient of a double lung transplant after wheeling around an oxygen tank through the prime years of her life. She is now kicking absolute ass, nothing can stop her.

In August of 2024, our Aunt Michele received a life saving organ transplant, had a few bumps in the road that only made her stronger and has been on an amazing recovery journey since.

Organ donation gives you an opportunity at life again and also gives you an opportunity to give someone a life again if you are on the other end of it. I will ALWAYS advocate for checking that box on the back of your license because you never know what lies around the corner or what tomorrow will bring.

While I had previously bullied people into becoming organ donors (proud of it too), it hit us all very differently when Mom landed on the list in February 2025….I became a super loud-mouth about it and now I can’t stop.

If you have general questions about organ donation, I urge you to read more about it or ask, it never hurts. I have linked New Jersey Sharing Network’s information they have about organ donation below for some education if anyone is ever curious.

https://www.njsharingnetwork.org/about-donation

The most important thing to gather from this, check the box on your next license renewal; you can’t take it with you!

and if you’re A positive………………… hehe

xoxo

nell