Her name is Angelina...

…and her heart beats so strong in my son’s chest. She saved his life. Her family saved his life. In the most difficult moments of their lives, they made a decision to give life because they wanted Angelina’s young life to mean something and they didn’t want anyone to have to go through what they were going through. We have finally spoken with the donor family.
We had gotten a notification about 3 weeks ago that they had received our letter and were interested in being in contact with us. We filled out a waiver form and waited. On Friday we were with our dear friends, the Oedy family, meeting their sweet new baby, Camille. I saw that I had a missed call/voicemail and said, "972 area code. who could that be?" and Sarah said, "that is weird, who would be calling you from Dallas, Texas?" And Chris and I looked at each other and the tears began to roll.
I called Angelina’s mother (Jessie) back, and we talked for more than an hour. It was a time so full of emotion. I don't think I really have words for it quite yet...I wonder if we'll ever really have words? We had a great conversation--and really felt connected and comfortable with one another. We cried and laughed and told our stories. We talked about our beautiful children. We talked about grief. She is extremely articulate about her journey in this past year through anger, sadness, disbelief, doubt, hope, etc...We talked about Heath's health...
Angelina was 14 months old on Dec. 6, 2008, when a freak household accident of furniture falling on her caused the rupture of an artery in her brain--which caused her to bleed out and her brain to swell. Doctors didn't think she would make it through the night, but she made it for several days and through several surgeries (strong little lady) before her parents were told that there was absolutely no chance for her to live. On Dec. 10, they brought their entire family to say good-bye (she has 2 older sisters, ages 5 and 7 now) and a priest to give her last rites. As everyone but her parents left and they prepared to unplug the machines, someone came running and asked if anyone had asked if they would ever considered organ donation. They immediately said that they would donate anything that might help someone else. Then they had to wait for two more days before the organs could be donated. Jessie said that they wanted Angelina's life to mean something--they wanted her spirit to live on--and they would do anything to help someone else not go through the horror that they were going through at that moment.

I can barely allow myself to imagine the whole situation--but for some reason those two days that they had to sit and wait for the donation surgeries feel so incredibly painful to me. They didn't have to sit there and wait. They could have said, "no, i can't take this anymore..." but they didn't. They shared life. Angelina's heart beats strongly in my son, and she gave him life. "Grateful" doesn't seem to be enough.

Angelina was full of life and spirit. She was beautiful (I will share a photo at some point). People said that they almost never heard her cry--she laughed and laughed. Jessie said that people always wanted to make friends with her in the grocery store (hmmm...sound familiar?). She was the light of her family's life. They miss her more than they can say. I hope that hearing how well Heath is doing can ease their pain ever so slightly—I know it doesn’t bring their sweet girl back, but perhaps it can be some hope for them. We will continue to stay in touch with them, and we’ll hopefully meet in the future.
Now you have names and a story for the people (dad is Miguel Angel) who we have all been praying for in the last year and a half. Please continue to pray for healing for this wonderful family.