Please believe me when I tell you that, to me, your daughter is an angel. She is on my shoulders; she is like a butterfly in my garden. She is the most beautiful person I have never known, and I carry her within me. Every day...
30 Comments Posted
Such a beautiful heart warming tribute of gratitiude & love Melody. I truly hope the donor family sees this. You have done the young lady and her family proud.
Be Well...
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outstandingly beautiful..totally perfectly written.....and i,,as melody s friend am adding that.... melody too is an angel....an angel on earth who inspires us all.......
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Melody Pierson has written a beatiful and meaningful tribute to the family whose grievous loss enabled her to have new lungs and gave her a new lease on life. She expresses herself with such sincerity and humility that one knows that every day she will cherish this gift . I am sure that this letter will give the donor's parents a modicum of peace and the joy of knowing their loved one's lungs have given a whole new meaning to life for Melody Pierson and her family.
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Great..simply great!
Keep going!
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I think even the young girl who gave you her still living lungs is crying of joy in heaven. She just saved your life, and your family from losing you. Beautiful. May she rest in peace - with a beautiful smile. G-d needed HER for something more important for her situation right now, I think.
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Having been with Melodie during her waiting period for the transplant was a very difficult time .Each week as I visited I noticed her breathing was getting worse and worse.I feared for her life.I know the article that she wrote is straight from her heart and I to would like to thank this angel and her family that has saved her life. May G-d bless each and every one of you.
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Thank-you to the organ donor and her family. Most of all thanks to the One who knows all, sees all, loves us through and through and designs the fabric of our lives before we are even in our mother's wombs. There are no mistakes.
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So you, so true, so big. Know that we are all blessed by this gift.
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For anyone debating on whether or not organ donation is a good thing, this is proof that it is. What a beautiful piece of work! Your story will become part of mine when I talk about OD-- and I will say blessings for her family and her, and you. Thank you for sharing this gift on such an important topic.
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Melody, I work in Transplant; I see what all families involved go through. It gives me peace to know you are doing well and that a family was caring enough to put the pain of losing their beautiful daughter aside just for a moment so they could share the gift of life. "You’re Life”
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My parents, may they rest in peace, were very "polite" people, in the 1950's sort of "write a thank you note" way. (of course, it was a reflection of middos tovos, good character traits...) So, I very much relate to the concept of the written "thank you." Your exceptional "thank you note" to your donor' family was beautiful--inspiring, to say the least. I've never, ever read, nor can I imagine a deeper, more heart-felt "thank you." I, too, hope this young woman's parents read it, and understand everything that you meant. Imagine what a wonderful reunion you 2 will have, with Mosiach (how about today!?!)
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beautifully written and beautifully deserved The donor family can be proud that their daughter has given you [Melody} another chance to sing and live and be happy. you living with Emphseyma was not living it is a very cruel illness that never gets better only worse . This is from someone who knows both the illness and the death of a child. Be well Melody and the thanks to that family that you have been given another life to enjoy with your family.
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Baruch HaShem, (Thank G-d). I try to remember and act that we can not waste even a moment todah ravah (thank you!) to you.
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I had a kidney transplant 2 yrs ago- For the 1st yr I sent letters and cards through Lifegift to my donor family- then I heard from them and we email now- I have a picture of my donor next to my computer and I thank G-D for him and his family that made that committment at the worst possible time-
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Oh, this was so inspiring. Thank you for reminding us to be grateful for every moment - for every breath!
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As difficult as their lost is I believe they will be thankful that part of her lives on. It may be hard for them too. I have a 29 year old daughter. I guess I would wonder that if she lived would she have become as talented as you. I believe I would feel a strange combination of joy and sorrow.
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This " Letter" was my own story. My life was saved seven years ago. I have no "guts' to face the donor. Coming to the USA is G-d's gift to me. The second gift (or the other Divine Providence)is to know what Chabad is all about. I learned here about the Rebbe and the world of Chasidus. Masha , you opened a window that I did not want to open till now. Your courage , will help me to overcome the challenge of somebody's limb in my body. I see the light and joyof life everyday. Hashem, please Bring Moshiach, so no more pain and suffering. Have a long ,healthy and Nachesdike l(joyful) life. With Moshiach-Now.
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Since you wrote that traumatizing article (a few years ago) of being afraid of what's ahead, and we banded together to pray for your strength and recovery, I often worried as to what actually happened to you. How bleak it seemed then. Thank you G-d for answering our prayers!
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Dear friends,whom I know online, in person, never met, people who come to this website , for the past years, supporting and praying for me, thank you, TOO!
I believe that without your thoughts and prayers, this operation would have been so much harder. What would I have done without you all?
Every time I wrote about how I was feeling and you would respond, my strength and faith grew and grew; my heart would burst with happiness to the point where I was no longer afraid.
Your words and responses made me laugh and cry and they still do. . May Hashem grant us all good health and only nachas. I look forward to writing more about this new part of my life.
If my writing, such as it is, helps others, then I am truly grateful for what seemed to be a very trying time. I have learned a new kind of strength and just how beautiful people around this world can be.
Hashem doesn't make mistakes. Ever.
Love,
Masha
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A gift of life that means the death of someone else. A thank you is simply words but a heartfelt ones like yours is one many donors families never receive. The cycle of life and death continue and the ultimate sacrifice to give one more time of the life that once was for someone else to have life. A gift like no other certainly deserves a THANK YOU like this one. When my body no longer sustains me I want to be an organ donor so that what I have might help others, now that I no longer need it. You can't take it with you, why not give it and let it live on in another?
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Congress was passing a bill to honor organ donor families- with all the turmoil I am not sure if they officially passed it but it will acknowledge the hardest gift a family can give
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Baruch HaShem (Thank G-d). After reading your letter, I am telling to mysefl "every moment is precious, can not be wasted." Shalom
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Wow, are you a Fortunate person. to be alive with the consciousness of every breath. i just want to give you a blessing that you stay Completely Healthy, that you are able to fullfill ALL of your promises, that you have More and More tremendous Good in your life in an Open and Revealed Manner, and that you continue to inspire others to Live more Fullfilling Lives with the result that we ALL Sing and Dance in Jerusalem with the complete redemption!
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When I received my lung transplant 11 years ago, I tried to write a thank you letter and found that my words were inadequate to express my gratitude but fortunately had my son, the English major, to help me. You wrote such an heartfelt letter that I have to say it is the best I've ever read. I have been blessed with meeting my donor family and mourn with them their tragic loss. May you be blessed with good health and if it is G-d will, are able to meet the family and be a blessing to them.
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I pulled up your letter after google searching about how to thank your organ donor. My daughter was a heart valve recipient about 7 years ago now (her second). The hospital never gave us a donor card or any info but I am making it a mission of mine to get a letter to our donor family somehow this year. I plan on trying to write it and contacting cryolife. Its just that I'm having a hard time thinking of what to say. Thanks for the inspiration of your beautifully written letter. It is amazing. I wish you all the best with your new life.
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This is so precious to me as well, I can relate to this story as well. I am a Heart Transplant recipient, recieving The Gift of Life in 2002. doing so great and just doing the best I can with this life I now have. How can really one really thank a Donor and his/hers family? All I can do is dedicate my life to our most High G~d by doing acts of kindness and saying positive loving words with my breath I have. A heart filled with love from some one who is so special to G~d who resides with G~d, who was so considerate of a stranger like myself, and now a family member of mine, as well as his/hers family. There is a G~d, miracles are everywhere if one only looks and hears.Finding Judaism to be the most beautiful religion, G~d opening the heavens giving the keys of heaven to a womderful Rabbi who with all his love and precious congregation have welcomed me into Judaism, in Galveston, Texas is also, he too is my Angel. Blessed be Hashem and there is no other. Baruch Hashem. (Thank G-d) Thank You!
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I read your article with a joyous note in my heart. Joyous- to have learned that you have been blessed with new lungs, lungs donated by the family of a young woman. This true act of kindness, has not only allowed you to breathe, but has allowed their daughter to "live on" in your body and in your heart. My son Ilan, also recived a double lung transplant. Melody, may you enjoy every minute of your life. May G-D give you many many healthy and happy years to come.
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Someone had sent me this article as I am preparing to write to my donor family also. I recieved my "gift of life" of a bilateral lung transplant in March of this year. I have read many of your other articles as you went through your personal transplant journey and found it very uplifting as I was going through my own journey as well. Now you have inspired me again, giving me ideas and inspiration to write to my donor family. This is truly a difficult letter to write and I want to get it just right because this may be my only chance to relay my most deepest heartfelt appreciation. Thank you for your writings. They helped me as I waited 2 1/2 yrs. for my transplant and now as I go through recovery, I can learn from you also.
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I can fully understand what you are saying and meaning, graditude, love, life. I am a heart recipient of 2002, grateful to be alive, knowing G-d is and always have been, I too hold an Angel in my Heart filled with Love and Torah and G-d. How much I Love G-d and my donor, alive for many reasons, alive to glorify G-d and to be kind to all that pass my way. Alive to be able to say thank to all who give The Gift of Life. Like a butterfly we are, forever beautiful even in death, forever we live even after death, for an Angel passed our with great Love. I too have seen my grandchildren which I might have not be able to, because a stranger thought of me, a stranger loved me without knowing me I am able to see the most precious gifts G-d has given me, my two grandchildren, children and husband who stood beside me all through my illness and health, I too thought of my donor, truly it was so sad for me, some one had to die for me to live. Thank You
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Thank you, all of you, for your notes. My sister died a month and a half ago. She was harvested... her heart, lungs, pancreas, eyes, skin, kidneys... and more. Your letters make all the difference in the world.
I too will be an organ donor. Although I would love to touch base with those whom my sister helped, I don't know if it is right, or appropriate, or even possible.
Again... I thank you... for sharing your experience.
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