Brave Enough to Say YES

On Tuesday, we got to celebrate the life of a wonderful man. The crazy thing is I didn't know all that much about this man until about 3 years ago. I'll start from the beginning:

Growing up I can always remember hearing about Craig Jr (who would be my grandma, Me-Me's sister's son). I remember seeing postcards he would send Me-Me and Hossie from China but that is about all I could tell you about him. That all changed about 3 years ago....

 

**Note: I had written this whole long deal and then asked my mom if there was anything she wanted to say---Well, let me just say that her version was so much better than mine. :) So I am going to put her part here and then do a follow up post with some of my thoughts. But hers is the best place to start. I hope you enjoy--it is long but SO well worth the read!

 

 

 

The things that happened to me in the 20 months of the journey with the kidney made such an impact on my life that I will never forget Craig Jr and I will be eternally grateful to him.

 

The journey started even before I offered...In October of 2008, I was in the worst health of my life. I started going to a homeopathic person who checks yours organs, etc and then gives you herbs and supplements that you need. I failed every test that she did. She took me off all cokes and made me drink lots of water. I had to take hand fulls of supplements. ONLY GOD could have known that I was going to need to be healthy in 20 months.

 

In March, I took MeMe to see Craig Jr in San Angelo. It was the first time I had seen him in years...since Aunt Sue's funeral. We talked about his health and asked if a kidney transplant was possible for him (At this time he was on dialysis two times a week). He said that it wasn't a possibilty because he had to have a live donor. At this point, as I have told some of you, ANYONE who saw a man without hope would have offered...But here is the next amazing thing...after asking mom what she thought, she told me to call and ask my family. I called Curt first and WITHOUT a moments hesitation he said to do it. (I later found out in my testing in Virginia, most families try and talk their wife or mom out of it). Then I talked to each of the girls and like their dad, they never hesitated. Looking back I don't think I could have done it wihtout asking a question or two---but they never hesitated. When I told Craig Jr that night, it was like a load was lifted. He saw a ray of hope.

 

When it got out that I was testing to donate a kidney, the lady that had started me on supplements to be healthier called me and asked me to come by. She had heard what I was doing and started saying that I couldn't donate a kidney because I wouldn't pass all of the tests. And if I did my kidney was so unhealthy that it would not have been good for me to be left with just one. I told her I was not going to tell him I couldn't do it. So as I left she said, "Then I guess we better get them as healthy as we can!"

 

Everytime I doubted or wondered, GOD told me without a doubt that I was to do it and in really cool ways. But it would take a novel to share all of it. So I passed every test for a year. The March before I donated, I had to do my last testing in Virginia. I went from department to department and each one had to take my blood pressure. It would be a little high the first time, then I would calm down and it would be good. The morning of surgery, Curt and I were in the holding area and a lot of doctors were in and out....a time I would have normally been nervous. But they came in and took my blood pressure and it was perfect. It didn't dawn on us then, but in a few minutes I asked Curt if he felt it...the overwhelming calm. We both knew that it was the "peace that passeth understanding."

 

I prayed that the kidney would be so healthy that they would know only God could have been in charge...AND it was! The doctors bragged on it.

 

I will never ever forget the journey and the time I had to get to know my amazing cousin. Craig and I probably hadn't spoken 30 words in the previous 30 years--and I got to see the man he had become....the amazing things he had accomplished, the amazing sense of humor that would surface, and I got to love him because I knew him---not just because he was my cousin.

 

*I will also never be able to thank my husband, girls, son-in-laws, and mom enough for the initial reaction of nothing but 100% support (It did effect every one of them, and may even in the future although I don't think it will) and like I said after interviewing in Virginia, I realized what a God-thing their support was too. He sent me this awesome family and I don't think I take enough time daily on my knees to say thank you to Him. THEN after the rest of my family found out....It makes me cry EVERYTIME I think of the support I had (Yes, I am crying right now). Then it goes on and on, my church family, friends....OMG and people don't believe it was a blessing for me.

 

**On a sad note, I think Craig and I both went into it thinking he would be 100% again--Fairy tale ending so to speak. And the people in testing warned me time and again how it would feel if things went south. But on one of my 8 hour drives down to see him, it dawned on me, that it really did serve its purpose. Uncle Craig knew he had an amazing son, but even he didn't know about the amazing man he was in Virginia and all the people he had impacted because he told me he didn't. We werea all allowed to see that he was so much more than the quiet cousin I knew. I also realized that if he had lived a lot longer and then gotten sick there would have been no one there to take care of him. Uncle Craig was the one that was supposed to take care of him and he wouldn't have been able to later on. It is not easy to lose a child, but to think of him with no one to take care of him...well, it played out it was supposed to, or so I would like to think.

 

Once again, I am crying...so sad for his story to end. So thankful I had a small chapter in it with the help of everyone in my family. I might have been brave enough to say yes, but it took each member behind me to walk the path.

 

 

---Pretty incredible story, isn't it?! One woman being brave enough to say YES to God and a whole bunch of people's lives were changed forever. Craig Jr was given a HUGE gift, I am not denying that---but I must agree with my mom and say that we were all blessed by it in so many ways. I am SO thankful for my mom, Craig Jr, and the gift of life that was given.

 

Thank you Lord for using it to bless us all in ways we can not even describe. My prayer is that I will be brave enough to always say YES to God even when I don't know what the future holds.