My 12 Celebrations of Christmas: A Thank-you
By: Teresa Diggs (Heart/Kidney Recipient)
As we prepare to celebrate the Holidays, we all tend to look back over the past year and think about what we’re grateful for. Thanks to the gift of life I recieved in the form of a heart/kidney transplant on July 11th, 2012, I’m finding myself thankful for SO MUCH.
Without my life-saving transplants, I’d never have been able to:
1. Decorate my house for Christmas
2. Create handmade “hearts” to give to family and friends to hang on their trees
3. Prepare Thanksgiving dinner to share with my family
4. Participate in my first 5K run in over four years on Thanksgiving Day
5. Travel to Detroit with my husband to visit the gravesite of my father-
in-law who passed away a week before my transplants
6. Begin a part-time job after being unable to work for five years due to my heart and kidney failure
7. Make Christmas cookies, including Buckeyes!
8. Prepare a wonderful Christmas dinner for my family
9. Walk up the stairs in my home without crawling up them so I could decorate our tree
10. Travel to Cleveland to celebrate the holidays with my family.
11. Plan on attending Midnight Mass since I’m now healthy enough
12. Begin to volunteer for Lifeline of Ohio
To many of us, these things may seem mundane, or trivial, but to me they are truly special. I’ve learned to appreciate each day, because each day is truly a gift.
Teresa and her husband Tim are thankful this holiday.