So I joined the thousands of people nationwide who were waiting for a life-saving transplant. My optimistic personality told me it would all work out. It had to... because I had too many things planned for my life. For most people on the list, the fear of never receiving that new organ consumes their lives as they wait. For me, I could only focus on the day at hand. What little energy I had, I used just trying to stay alive. The ones who really paid the price, who worried each day as they watched me slowly die, were my parents. They sat there helplessly, knowing that the only people who could save my life were strangers who didn't even know I existed. But somehow, we found each other.

After only seventeen days on the list, I was one of the lucky ones. A heart was found and the match was perfect. But as I prepared to enter the operating room with my family praying for my safe return, I realized that another family was grieving over the loss of their son. That family's decision to donate, during the darkest days of their lives, speaks of the courage and selflessness that we all aspire to achieve in our own lives. Every day I live now, each step I take, and every life that I touch is a tribute to my donor and his family.