FROM OUR FRIEND STEVE FERKAU..... DOUBLE LUNG TRANSPLANT RECIPIENT, A FACE OF HOPE AND ONE OF MY HERO....
It's that time of year again!!! Below is a letter that I sent out to a few hundred people about one of the things I do annually to tell people about the girl who saved my life...
Happy Valentine’s Day!!!
Laura and I don’t really do a lot to celebrate Valentine’s Day… I regularly tell her, “Baby, you’ve got me – every day is Valentine’s Day for you!” And she rolls her eyes – which, as often as that seems to happen, I’ve accepted as a gesture of her undying love for me… She’s the most special person in my world, and she has been for 25 years…
The next most special person in my world is someone who I’ve never met. But she’s on my mind throughout the day, every day. As a gift, she and her family have given me 10 more Valentine’s Days with my Laura. And she’s given me the ability to breathe like I’d never dreamed possible. Her name was Kari and I breathe with her beautiful lungs.
This is my ninth time participating in the Hustle up the Hancock… This is the eighth time I’ve had a team climbing with me – “Kari’s Klimbers”, named in honor of my donor. This will be the seventh time I’ve had several of Kari’s friends and volleyball teammates climbing with me … And every year I have other people with new lungs, a new heart, new corneas – and people from organ procurement organizations and hospitals who are charged with helping deliver these gifts to people like me… Kari was a star middle-hitter on her Algona High School volleyball team – she wore #13… Over the past few years, #15, #12, #8, #7, #4 and #2 have joined me in the stairwells – this year her volleyball coach and one of her teachers are joining me too… They’re coming out from Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois to help me honor their friend and my hero…
Can you imagine what it feels like to be around people who loved her and people who she loved? Do you know what it feels like, year after year, to be supported by so many – and to have so many rally for my cause? It feels pretty incredibly awesome… Over the past eight years, my teams have raised over $225,000.00 for the Respiratory Health Association of Metro Chicago. That has happened because of so many people like you, helping us… How many things have you been a part of that have raised that much money and awareness for a good cause?!?! I’m grateful to be part of this one… And for me, far beyond the money, this has allowed me to tell so very many people about Kari.
CLICK HERE TO READ STEVE'S ENTIRE LETTER AND TO FOLLOW HIS REVIVE HOPE BLOG
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