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"They have to be deceased," she says, talking about the donor for her grandson when he was born. "His parents wouldn't do. They wanted to..."
She measures with thumb and forefinger, "It was that valve he needed, not
just a piece of liver. You need that." Weeks of worry, and that someone else had to die to save him, she keeps explaining waiting for the doors of our hearts to swing wider, to show her story has arrived and is more than transplant. We nod, wait to ask what he is doing, what he has done, where he is now.

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  • avatar

    Neville Hunt almost 8 years ago

    Terrific, D.M. This strikes a very loud chord with me as you may have gathered as my best friend had a kidney transplant last Wednesday after years and years of waiting. There was a story on the BBC yesterday about a boy whose father provided a liver transplant for him, but I believe it can be achieved by taking only part of that organ, and both have survived. Great drabble, it brought a tear to my eye.

  • avatar

    D.M. almost 8 years ago

    'Trusting all goes well with your friend. (This woman's grandson is almost twenty
    now, and never had any further issues...)

  • avatar

    Neville Hunt almost 8 years ago

    Transplants have been in the news a lot over here. On (the wonderful) BBC Radio4 the other day there was a feature "The boy who gave his heart' about a young man who gave life and health to a number of people via a number of his organs. His mum, who along with the donee were interviewed, finally met the young man with her son's heart and felt it beating. The programme was very moving.

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