Letter to My Organ Donor's Family

Dear Family,

I am sure this letter may be difficult to read. It is difficult to write. It is both painful and joyous. The reason I am writing is to thank you.

"Thank you" is an expression which is used quite often and sometimes just in passing. This is a different kind of "Thank you." It is a "Thank you" that defies English, French or any language.

How do you say thank you that means that because of you and your daughter, I am alive to speak any words at all? I am alive at fifty-one years to continue living.

My promise to you is that I will never waste one moment of my lifeThe importance and immense meaning of the gift you and your daughter have given me, truly cannot be expressed in words.

I can try, though. I must try, because I think you should know that this life that was saved is a life of promise. My promise to you is that I will never waste one moment of it.

I have two grown children of my own. I am a mother, a musician, an artist and a spiritual person.

If you can imagine it, before the gift your daughter gave me, it was becoming very challenging to do anything in my life. Brushing my teeth required effort. Eating became difficult. Even with oxygen, I still had to be in a wheelchair if I wanted to go out.

How do I share with you that you gave me life back? That you gave me a better life? My children and my husband thank you. My friends thank you.

And I think you should know that not one day goes by that I do not think of the generous spirit of yours, and of the woman who enabled me to breathe again.

There is a television commercial that says, "When you can't breathe, nothing else matters." That is, indeed, true.

To add to that, as a singer and a songwriter, I thought my music was gone forever. As a mother, it became more difficult to see the pain in my children's faces.

I want you to know something else.

When I got the call they had found a donor for me, and that this person was a young woman, I thought of my own twenty-two year old daughter, who rode with me in the ambulance to the hospital for the surgery.

I cried during that whole ride to the hospital. Not because I was scared or happy. I cried because I knew that on that day, somewhere, a family lost a precious, beloved person in their life.

My heart was with you and is still with you.

She is with me, literally, with every breath I takeOn a more positive note, please know that this woman, who gave me the gift of life, is my hero. I literally owe my life to her and to you, who had the bravery and strength to allow this procedure to take place in the midst of your grief.

Masha, after the transplant

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 music inspired by Beethoven; she is a painting from the heart of Da Vinci. She is the Book written by the hand of G‑d; she is a rainbow and a sunset. She is the most beautiful person I have never known, and I carry her within me. Every day.

Yes, please know that her spirit lives. I hold her in my heart. And she is with me, literally, with every breath I take.

May G‑d Bless You for giving me my life back. For giving me a new life with no more pain. A life where I don't have to fight for every breath I take.

I love you without knowing you and I am here as living proof that life goes on.

I promise to take good care of her. I promise to honor her with everything I do, especially for others who have suffered like me.

If you have any special requests at all, just let me know.

With all my heart, I wish you peace. I wish you love. And above all, faith in knowing that this beautiful woman has allowed me to live again.

Your daughter, in life and in spirit, is a miracle. I am her miracle.

Thank you.

With all the love from the deepest part of my heart,
M.P.

Dedicated to the anonymous donor who in her death, gave Masha life on October 30, 2007.