All in the name of love.

Post date: Feb 7, 2012 3:17:56 PM

The whole month of February causes fits of tears welling up in my eyes and me choking them down. They are those kinds of fits where I remind myself to knock it off, because I am incredibly lucky.

We are one of the fortunate families.

At the time she was listed for a liver in 2004 there were over 87,000 other people waiting for an organ transplant of some sort. Right now, according to UNOS (http://www.unos.org/ ) there are 112,848. The stats are astounding. And it was those same stats that led me to my decision. If she were to continue living, with a PELD of 11, she was going to need a living donor.

I was done watching her die.

I was done feeling helpless.

I was tired of feeling out of control.

Sure, I was scared. But my love for her won out and my inner mama-bear* awoke from its hibernation. (*We call her Nataliebear.)

She is here.

She is alive.

She has made it through hell and back.

I didn’t give her part of my liver for the accolades.

I didn’t do it for the “ ‘at a girls.”

I did it because I had no choice.

I did it because of love.

And this month, February 2012, we will celebrate 7 more years with her.