Touched by Transplant: Leslie's Second Chance

April is National Donate Life Month. To raise awareness about the importance of organ donation and to celebrate transplant donors, we are sharing stories of HOPE from patients and families touched by transplant. 

This reflection was written by HelpHOPELive client Leslie Sorg. 

On July 2, 2013, I was placed on the heart transplant list at Thomas Jefferson Hospital in Philadelphia. After spending 93 days in the hospital waiting, on March 2, 2014 I received the most incredible, generous gift: my new heart. My donor’s family was so incredibly generous, and despite what I'm sure was the most difficult decision of their life they were able to look past their own personal grief and change my life forever. 

My new heart came after years of dealing with aggressive arteriosclerosis (hardening of the arteries). In 2008, I found out that the three major arteries in my heart were 93% blocked or greater. After aggressive medical therapy, 28 cardiac stents, a failed heart bypass and a major heart attack, I was told that my only hope would be a heart transplant. All during this time, I continued to work and care for my family, desperate to maintain a normal life. 

I am an emergency room nurse and frequently have to address the subject of organ donation. Unfortunately, many people still refuse to donate and I don’t understand why. The gift of life that was donated to me doesn't just pump blood to my organs -- it's so much more than that. It gave me peace of mind and hope! I no longer fear that any day now I am going to die; that scary death monster that never showed its face but I knew was always there, is gone! It's an incredible feeling to be given a second chance. I plan to laugh more, worry less and always remember this has all been made possible by the generosity of one family and the gift of one beautiful heart. I plan to return to work and live my life with my three wonderful children, great family and friends, enjoying my second chance and paying it forward at every chance. 

There will never be enough words of gratitude to the wonderful family who donated this heart to me. The donor not only changed my life, but everyone in my life's life! I promise that their loved one will continue to live on inside me, and will be treated with the utmost respect! I plan to try and make people aware of what a difference organ donation makes in a person’s life, just by looking at me. On the day that I received my heart, I'm sure several other people died waiting for their own heart; and if only more people would have been donors on that day, there would be more great stories like mine. Please consider being an organ donor and you too can give someone else a second chance!