{"id":493,"date":"2009-05-10T08:45:09","date_gmt":"2009-05-10T16:45:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/melaniehack.com\/blog\/?p=493"},"modified":"2009-05-10T08:45:09","modified_gmt":"2009-05-10T16:45:09","slug":"a-gift-from-the-heart-to-a-stranger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/melaniehack.com\/blog\/?p=493","title":{"rendered":"A Gift From The Heart To A Stranger"},"content":{"rendered":"


\nJennifer was an only child. And she had talked with her mother, Royce, about organ donation. Jennifer believed in it. But of course, being a teenager, Jen never thought about the day when she would die so she could be a donor.<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

It was May. It was Mother\u2019s Day. And it was an accident that affected Royce in a deep and sad way.<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

On Mother\u2019s Day last year Jennifer was a passenger in a car that smashed into the back of a school bus. She died four days later never having met Michael\u2026the young man who she would give sight to.<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

But \u201cJennifer would have liked Michael,\u201d Joyce says today with a smile.<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

Michael had undergone routine eye surgery\u2026but woke up in excruciating pain, unable to see. And for seven weeks, with mounting apprehension, he lived with a growing realization that he may never see again.<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

Ever! <\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

But fate intervened.<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

Jennifer\u2019s Mom made sure the doctor\u2019s knew of her daughter\u2019s organ donation wish. She made sure Jen\u2019s wishes were respected.<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

One of the donated organs was Jennifer\u2019s left cornea. And Michael received it\u2014an anonymous gift. \u201cIt is the greatest gift I could ever receive,\u201d he whispers.<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

He called Royce this year, today\u2026on Mother\u2019s Day\u2014the first anniversary of her daughter\u2019s death. Royce’s day had started out in a bad way. But never having met Michael before, Joyce\u2019s mood changed to one of elation. <\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYour daughter will be able to look at the world and see great things,\u201d promised Michael.<\/o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

Royce had expected nothing in return. She had only followed through with her daughter\u2019s wishes. But now she found that her daughter\u2019s kind, charitable gift had brought a new beginning.<\/span><\/p>\n

Melanie Hack<\/a>
\nAuthor of Who Killed My Sister, My friend<\/a>
\nRead an excerpt now<\/a>
\nTV Shows and Clips<\/a> about the Death of Cindy James<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jennifer was an only child. And she had talked with her mother, Royce, about organ donation. Jennifer believed in it. But of course, being a teenager, Jen never thought about the day when she would die so she could be a donor. It was May. It was Mother\u2019s Day. And it was an accident that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mothers-day"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/melaniehack.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/melaniehack.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/melaniehack.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/melaniehack.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/melaniehack.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=493"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/melaniehack.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/melaniehack.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/melaniehack.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/melaniehack.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}