Im asking everyone to PLEASE READ this extremely important as well as beautiful and heart breaking true story of a friend of mine on my personal site. With enormous respect and compassion I share this miraculous love story, and testimonial that transplants work. I am deeply sorry for her tragic loss. This story will touch you enormously. I keep Sandy in my prayers and thoughts. Imagine finding two love stories also in one life time! This is a story filled with honest heart wrenching emotion which will touch everyones heart who reads it. I am asking that you read this and you may share it also please, with Sandys consent! Bless her for her love and courage and in sharing her life so honestly as she does! As shared and with consent: by Sandy Johnson Driste-MacDonald Today is a sad day for me. It would have been mine and my first husbands 19th wedding anniversary. I met my first husband, Brett Driste, in June of 1993, 2 weeks after I had gotten on the waiting list for a double lung transplant. The last thing I was looking for was a boyfriend. I was too sick to take care of myself let alone worry about someone else. But, Brett was persistent even after I told him my story about my CF, and need for a transplant. He told me I was worth the risk. Well, the year I waited for my new lungs was a rough one. I spent six of those 12 months in the hospital. Brett was always there for me. He would bring cards, flowers, comfy pajamas, and although I was so self-conscious about my O2, it never stopped him from wanting to kiss me. In April of 1994, I had gotten to the point that I was so short of breath and exhausted that I couldnt even talk on the phone. One day Brett came to visit me and I told him that I didnt think we should see each other anymore, because in case I didnt make it, I didnt want him to be hurt. I told him he deserved to be with someone healthy. He was only 27. But I still remember his words, You can break up with me tonight, but Ill be back here to see you tomorrow. And he was. Almost a year to the day after our first date, on June 21, 1994, I got my two new lungs, and of course he was by my side through the entire surgery and recovery. Miraculously and unexpectedly, I got pregnant just three weeks after my transplant surgery. Brett was beside himself with joy and my life had never been so wonderful.On March 31, 1995, I gave birth to our little baby boy, Jared Michael Driste. A miracle baby if there ever was one, and on June 3, 1995, I married that wonderful, amazing, loving, loyal man and life was really just beginning. I could breathe, I had a baby, and an awesome husband...things I never dreamed I would have. Then on October 15, 1998, God called Brett home. He had an undiagnosed benign brain tumor. He came home from work one night with a headache and I found him dead the next morning. He had died of acute swelling of the brain. It was surreal. I was the sick one, the one we took care of, the one we prayed for, and he was gone. Here I was a 31 year old widow and single mother. How did I turn out to be the surviving parent? It was complete devastation. It was so unbelievable. I had always wondered why God gave us that baby so soon after my transplant. I had thought that it was because God knew I would die young and he wanted Brett to have a part of me, but I was wrong. God wanted to leave me a part of Brett. My son and I got through. By the grace of God and amazing family, I stayed healthy and Jared and I thrived better than I ever dreamed we would. I have a wonderful 2nd husband and he loves Jared as his own. I am blessed. But today is really a hard day, and I still miss Brett every day. Ill never understand why God took him when he did, but I sure know why God brought him into my life when he did. I fought and fought to live for that transplant because of him. He was my strength when I was at my weakest. He gave me the will to fight, and as I sit and think about the fact that I will celebrate 20 years with these new lungs on June 21st, I think about how much Bretts death encouraged me to keep fighting to stay healthy: my son needed a parent. He had already lost his father, I couldnt let him lose his mother too. Happy Anniversary to the man who saved my life and gave me the baby I never believed Id have. You surely are missed and loved every day by so many, and thank you for loving me when I didnt think any man would. You were such a gift and I thank God every day for the time I had with you. It may have been short but it sure was abundant and left me with beautiful memories nobody can ever take away. You would be so proud of our son. He is like you in so many ways. The tears fall as I write this, but under them is a smile as I cherish you deep in my heart.
Posted on: Tue, 03 Jun 2014 23:20:59 +0000
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