Page 45 of Fortuity

ChapterEighteen

Faith

Alittle more thana week later, my last undergrad exam was finally over. I only had graduation left to get through, and I found myself with some alone time. Dillon was at his dad’s office. Christine was taking her last final. And I was packing up another box of stuff to bring over to Dillon’splace.

Or our place, actually, since I’d been slowly moving in with him. Most of my clothes were already there, and I was grabbing some of my random stuff today. Practically living with him was easier than I expected, and it made me worry less about how things were going to work aftergraduation.

Living together meant truly opening ourselves up. No keeping parts of ourselves hidden. Like when you have guests coming over and you didn’t want them to see all your shit. Instead of going through it all to clean it up, you shove it in a drawer to hide it away. That only worked with guests, though. Which meant I needed to really clean my shit up instead of just hiding it away...starting with that conversation I’d had with Sarah about thanking my donor’s family for the second chance they’d given me. I never would have had the happiness I’d found with Dillon without them. It didn’t seem right to move on to the next phase of our lives together without acknowledging their sacrifice insomeway.

Pulling my phone out of my pocket, I dialed the number for Dr. Stewart’s physician’s assistant, Lisa. One of the advantages of being a patient there for several years was easier access when you had aquestion.

“Hey, Faith. Everything okay? We don’t have you down for your next appointment for another two and a half months. Did you need to come insooner?”

I’d learned early on that Lisa was the kind of person whose mouth moved a hundred miles per minute, so you had to be quick if you wanted to get a word in edgewise. “No, I’m good. I was just wondering if it’s possible for me to reach out to my donor’s family. To saythankyou.”

“There are rules against us disclosing their contactinformation.”

Disappointment crashed down onme. “Oh.”

“But you can write a letter, care of the transplant center. We’ll forward it to themforyou.”

“Oh!” That time it was said in relief. “That would be amazing. So I just write the letter, drop it off to you guys, and you’ll take care of everything elseforme?”

“Pretty much, yes. But you’ll want to make sure to not include your last name or where you live. The state is fine, just not the city. And it goes without saying, no contactinformation.”

“Great! I’d prefer not to wait until my next appointment, so I’ll probably stop in sometime this week with aletter.”

“We’ll seeyouthen.”

Determined to move forward into my future with Dillon surrounded by positivity, I sat down to write my letter. Finding the right words to use was one of the most difficult things I’d ever done. By the time I was satisfied, I had rewritten it about a dozentimes.

Dear DonorFamily,

I received the precious gift of a donated kidney from your loved one. There are no words that can truly express the depth of gratitude I feel towards your family. It takes a special kind of person to make such a sacrifice in their time of grief and need. I will never be able to thank you enough for giving me a second chance at life, but you have my promise that I have tried to live up to the example set by your loved one. And I’ll continue todoso.

I’m sorry it has taken me so long to write this letter. My life was drastically different four years ago when I received my transplant. I was a senior in high school who felt like there wasn’t anything good to look forward to, even though I was willing to fight to live. My childhood was difficult, and I wasn’t raised with the best role models surrounding me. Your family’s decision was the first genuine act of sacrifice I ever experienced. It’s one I value more than I can ever explain. Your loved one didn’t just save my life, they gave me a whole new outlook on the world by giving me the very thing I was named after—faith.

Thanks to the second chance your family gave me, I have so many positive things in my life now. I’m graduating with honors from college soon, with a bachelor’s degree in social work. I’ve been accepted into a graduate program and plan to go on to earn mymaster’s.

While in school, I met a boy and fell in love for the first time in my life. We’re in the process of moving in together. I’m living a blessed life I never expected to have because of yourlovedone.

I know your decision to donate their organs must have been incredibly difficult, but I wanted you to know what a difference it has made in my life. I will never be able to fully express my gratitude to you for giving me this opportunity. I hope this letter brings you a little solace in knowing some good came out of your loss. Thank you for making the decision to savemylife.

With inexpressiblegratitude,

Faith

I started sobbing when I finished reading through the final version. Tears were streaming down my face as I tucked it into an envelope and put it in my purse. A quick glance at my phone showed that I still had an hour left before Dillon would be home, so I decided to grab a rideshare to the doctor’s office to drop it off. The driver kept sneaking glances at me through the rearview mirror. I was sure he thought there was something horribly wrong with me when he agreed to wait the five minutes I told him it would take before I camebackout.

I took the stairs up four floors instead of waiting for the elevator. I was out of breath, red-faced, and bleary-eyed when I walked into Dr. Stewart’s office. I’d gone in there looking worse in the past, and one of the good things about being in a medical center was that nobody looked at me oddly as I walked up to thereceptionist’sdesk.

“Hey, Faith,” Susan greeted me. “Lisa sent me an email about an hour ago letting me know you might stop by sometime this week with a letter for your donor family. But I didn’t expect to see yousosoon.”

“Yeah.” I pulled the envelope out of my purse. “Once I had the idea in my head, I couldn’t let go of it. I know it’s been years, but it suddenly seemed so important. So I thought it would be best to get it donerightaway.”

“That sounds like a smart plan to me.” She held out her hand, and I reluctantly passed the letter over. She had to tug on it to get me toletgo.

“Sorry, it feels like giving away a part ofmyself.”

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