The Multi Organ Transplant Program believes that organ transplant offers many patients, with end-stage organ failure, the gift of life. The Multi Organ Transplant Program encourages everyone to think about organ and tissue donation and share their wishes with their family.

Organ donation is an opportunity for families to honour the wishes of their loved ones and receive some comfort in the knowledge that their decision has helped to save the life of another. Our transplant recipients are encouraged to express their gratitude in writing to donor families, and in turn, many donor families write to our recipients to tell them of the special individuals who have made the transplantation process possible.

These letters, from donor families and recipients, truly express the meaning of the gift of life through organ donation and transplantation.

Letters from our Donor Families and Transplant Recipients

Dear Donor Family

As I struggle to find the words to write this letter I can only imagine the pain and heartache your family must feel over the loss of your beloved child. Our daughter has faced death several times over the past year and I know how it tears you up inside to watch them lie there suffering. I hope this letter will help you to see the good your family has done for other children. It is an amazing gift you have given us. Thank you for your courage.

Our daughter received the heart and is recovering beautifully now. She is able to run and play again, she has been able to go swimming and sledding this winter. She can climb the stairs now and walk around the block. In September, she will be able to return to school. It has been a long time since she has felt so good.

We have enclosed a prayer that has given us a great deal of peace over the past year. We feel it really explains the way that life can be. We never know where the road of life will take us or what's around the bend. We can only hope and pray for the best.

We pray that God will bless your family and grant you peace.


Dear Transplant Team:

When we start out on the path to transplantation we have no choice. We know it is a last ditch effort to maintain life. We realize from the beginning that although the surgery is fairly routine, the post-transplant care is not necessarily so routine. If we do well, we're almost lulled into thinking we will live forever.

However, these deaths quickly bring us back to reality. They frighten us, anger us and discourage us. The transplant team is also affected greatly. Day in and day out, they must deal with the deaths and discouraging results. They must also carry on, hoping the triumphs outweigh the disappointments.

Please know that your patients are extremely grateful for the skills, caring and compassion exhibited by the transplant team. Know that your patients are grateful for the extra time transplantation has allowed them.

I am writing this to you... however, our feelings extend to all members of the heart transplant team.

We hope and pray that you and your colleagues will be encouraged by the successes and by your patient's gratitude and support.

To My Dear Donor Family,

As the anniversary of your beloved son and brother's passing approaches, it is with the deepest of love and gratitude this letter is written for your gift of unconditional love. Every day my heart is filled in prayer for all of you.

It is miraculous to be given the most profound moments of happiness and sadness, laughter, tears and joy, and the most amazing ability of taking care of loved members of my family, which was totally impossible before the transplant. What is realized is that there is nothing that could ever be done on earth, in order to reciprocate for such a colossal gift, that could possibly match your spirit and courage in the giving! My mentor told me, "Nothing ever beautiful dies". This is a constant source of comfort and sustenance.

Please always know that although we will never meet, you do have another daughter and sister that loves you and thanks you with undying gratitude with every rich, full, perfect breath that is drawn.


Dear Friend,

It is on what would have been my father's birthday that I write you this letter. It was today, a day on which I miss my father immensely that I found your letter about your husband receiving my father's heart. Along with the new lease on life, I hope your husband also received all of the love and joy for life that my father's heart was filled with. I pray that your husband is doing well and celebrating being able to spend time with his family.

My father left behind two daughters and my mother, all of whom he loved very much. My father, was a father, husband, friend and a firefighter, in order of importance. I used to be sad when I think of all the things my father would not get to do. After reading your letter, I can now smile in thinking that another father will see his children's weddings and get to play with his great-grandchildren.

My father's death came as a great shock to our family as there was not a healthier man than my father. I don't think I can say enough to make you see how much I loved my father. He was my best friend. My friends called us the "Cleaver family after Leave It To Beaver". I know that my father is up there somewhere smiling down because once again he has managed to help someone.

I read something that fits my feelings exactly. "I don't know whether to be angry at God for taking my father away, or praise Him in his excellent choice of angels." I would like to thank you for your letter. It has almost helped me to heal my own heart a little bit.

Of all the times I have started to write this letter, I have never been able to finish it. My feelings change from the time I start, and what I want to say gets a bit lost. But this time I will finish a letter to you, no matter just how it turns out.

My life is a busy one these days, filled with work, family, and friends, traveling, etc. Believe me, I am not complaining. There was a time about ten years ago, when I could only dream about doing the simplest of things. Now, I live my dreams.

I wanted to share a few things with you, made possible by a family who was generous enough to give the ultimate gift — the life you gave to me. My life has never been the same!

How do I thank you for what you have done? I have thought about this many times over the last ten years. Still, the only thing I can think of is to write to you and tell you that since my transplant my life has been a joyous celebration. I'm the one who will stop to smell the roses, watches sun rises and sun sets, and appreciates each and every day I am blessed with.

I realize the day of my deliverance is also the anniversary of a very sorrow-filled and tragic day in your lives. But, I sincerely hope you do not see it in that light. I will not likely ever get the chance to know you personally, but to give such a wonderful gift in your time of need, tells me that you are some of the most kind and compassionate people the world has. I always get tears in my eyes whenever I think about your loved one who donated. I am at a loss for words as to what I would say to them, were I given the chance. Please know that I think of you and your loved one often.

I would like it very much if you would be willing to communicate to me through a letter. However, if your are unable to, I will most certainly still write to you again, to let you know how I am.

If you happen to meet someone some day who has a smile you just can't explain, has an enthusiasm and passion for life like no other, and who has overcome many difficulties and fears just because of the love felt inside, just be sure to say "Hi".

With All My Love,
Transplant Recipient

Waiting so patiently
Praying so hard
That somebody out there
Signed their Organ Donor Card

Then came the phone call
It seemed someone signed their name
But in the blink of an eye
A family's heart was feeling great pain

We rushed to the hospital
With excitement, sadness and fear
We met the doctors and nurses
With our family members all near

It was the day that we were waiting for
But not for the loss of a life
We were waiting for a new beginning
With no more struggle and no more strife

But to the family who have now lost
Their mother, father, daughter or son
We pray for your cherished one
And thank them for the selfless act that they have done

For even in passing
They gave the ultimate gift
A precious gift called life
Which gave our spirits such a lift

So it is with sorrow and with joy
That we say "Thank You", with all our heart
For respecting the wishes of your loved one
In letting them live on, by giving someone else a new start

We will think of you and your family everyday
For the rest of our lives,

Liver Recipient and Fiancé

Every day you are in my thoughts. I want to tell you a little about the night one year ago. My daughter was again in hospital when the call came, it was late at night. She decided to go outside from her hospital to the one where the miracle was waiting — we stopped to look at the stars and didn't see any — then I saw one flicker. The doctor and nurse and I stopped and looked at that star — I told my daughter to make a wish. Then the doctor, nurse and I stood there and looked at each other. Then we looked at the hospital where hope was waiting. I think we realized what was waiting there. Thank you from the bottom of my heart and from all those who love my daughter.

I hope you know how
much I care
And that my friendship
will be there
For you to lean on
as you make it through
Remember as you
face each day
We will be there beside you
all the way,
Because you know
I think the world of you.

To friends I do not know:

Where do you find the words that mean more than "thank-you"? My personal determination can only have been successful with the help of the donation that I have received. What I would like to tell you is, due to what you miss I have gained, and for what I have gained is the gracious gift of life because of people like you. When we received the call from the hospital, I cried tears of joy and also of pain, pain of knowing that someone's life will pass on so mine can carry on.

Your generosity has given me the strength and health to continue on a normal life. I will watch my family grow as I grow and we will appreciate life to it's fullest. There is not much I can say, due to the confidentiality that goes with the donor program, but I know inside of me there is new life, a life of strength and happiness. Maybe someday we can meet and I can share this joy with you, so you know not all is lost and forgotten.

I'm sorry that it has taken this long to write, but it's very hard to put into words what you really would like to say. My thoughts and prayers are with you. God bless you.

----Friends for Life-----

To the Family of My Husband's Donor,

I am writing to you because I know my husband would like me to let you know that I often think about you and your loss. My husband, who received his gift of new lungs some time ago, was a quiet, thoughtful person with an incredible smile and a genuinely huge capacity for seeing the good in everyone and everything. He was also quite witty. I miss him dearly for he passed away last year.

One person can touch so many lives and my husband and I were blessed because of your kindness. I'm sorry he was not able to spend more time with me, but I'd like to thank you for your incredible generosity, which did allow him to stay with me a little longer.

I used to ask my husband if he thought about his donor and he told me that he would often wake at night and tears would come to his eyes. I could sense the depth of his compassion and how profoundly he was affected by the experience. I'd like to think you would have been proud of him, just as you are proud of the person who is dear to your hearts. I'd like to let you know that my husband overcame some incredible challenges and that he was grateful to be able to have had the transplant. I often think about my husband's donor and wonder how tall was this person, what was the colour of their hair, the colour of their eyes, what were their interests and hobbies, and what brought them joy in their own life. I often think of you and how much you must be missing his or her presence, and I wonder how you are coping with your own loss.

Please accept my condolences and best wishes on this very important anniversary.

Thank you so much for taking the time to write such a beautiful letter, it is one that I shall treasure for the rest of my life.

My husband was a very loving husband and father, although we never discussed the donor program, I know that he would have been overjoyed and thrilled that he had in someway given a person a chance to go on with their life.

I can relate with the heartache and pain of having someone ill, your wife, god bless her is truly a saint, the years of devotion that she has given to you and your children will not go unnoticed. God has mysterious ways of rewarding us, and I believe that he truly knew the pain and suffering you and your family were having.

Your illness must have been unbearable for you and your family. The pain must have been enormous. We sometimes wonder where we get the strength to go on, but for some strange reason we do. My prayers will be for your and your family to have a wonderful life, one that you all certainly do deserve. May God Bless You and give you the life that you deserve.

P.S. I will pray for you everyday as long as I shall live.

To the Recipient Family,

I was very surprised and pleased to receive your letter. At first it brought many tears as I revisited that day when my sister passed away unexpectedly. Then I began to think of your mother having a second chance at enjoying life and the ache eased a bit.

I had received an update from the M.O.R.E. organization upon the anniversary of my sister's death. They gave us the news that all who had received organs were doing well. The news warmed our pain. My sister was a kind and generous person who left us too soon but who we remember with love every day. We had never discussed organ transplant so it was a difficult decision to make at a difficult time. Once I made the decision, it seemed right.

My sister was very young at heart, loved nature, especially butterflies, long walks, time with family and buying presents. She always looked great and had a big smile. She lover to read and watch old movies. Country music with female singers were on the C.D. player often. She was quite quiet and did not like to be the center of attention at all. She loved to take pictures of family and look back on special events. We have spent a lot of time looking at those pictures now.

We thank you for your very special letter. We will keep it always. We hope that your mother will have good health for a long time. We are grateful that something good has come from our loss.

Sincerely,
The Donor Family