A little over twelve years ago, a beautiful girl in Iowa named Kari told her family how strongly she felt about organ donation. Twice. I was in Chicago, my lungs were failing after a short lifetime living with cystic fibrosis... I was dying. In April, 2000, at the age of 17, Kari passed away. At the most devastating moment in their lives, Kari's family honored her desire to become an organ donor. I breathe with Kari's lungs. All of my life, I'd never imagined breathing could feel this good, this fulfilling- I think of Kari throughout the day, every day...
It was a few years after I received her beautiful lungs that we learned about Kari and her family... About a year later, we drove out to Algona, Iowa and we met them... We also met a few of Kari's friends. Over the next few years, Kari's Mom put me in contact with several of her friends... Over the past 7 or 8 years, more than a dozen of her friends have come out to climb with me - I've come to love them dearly...One of Kari's friends I met early on was Alex... Actually, we met Alex and her brother when we were at a restaurant with Kari's family, when we met them... Alex was among the first groups of Kari's friends to come out to climb with me - and she's back every year...
Read more: http://revivehope.typepad.com/revive_hope/2012/05/my-new-kidney-mabel.html
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