198 Beep! Beep! Beep! My alarm clock sounded, forcing me to clear my senses as I tried in vain to shut it off. I sat upright in bed only to realize what today was. It was the day. I cleaned myself up, and put on a black suit and tie. As I headed out the door, I caught a reflection in the mirror and saw that my tie was crooked. I stopped to straighten it, remembering the first time I learned how to tie a Windsor knot. My best friend, Jayden, had taught me how. I sighed and glanced at a photo of us on a nearby table. I arrived at the courtyard and saw an impressive gathering of Jayden's friends and family, some of whom I hadn't seen in years. Everyone was well dressed. People greeted each other with hugs and kisses. I could overhear them talking about Jayden, saying things like, Can you believe this about Jayden? Who knew?" and "This is just so unbelievable!" I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned around to find my friend Jessie. She gave me a hug and said, "Wow, can you believe all of these people are here? It's quite a turn out!" "Yeah," I replied. "I really can t believe this day has finally come. It feels, well, just surreal since I remember those school days together like they were yesterday. As Jessie and I went to find our seats, I started thinking about my life with Jayden. Jayden and I met in the first grade, but we didn't actually become friends until the following year when the topic of sports entered a conversation. Neither he nor I had siblings, and due to a common love of sports, we became inseparable over the next 10 years. We went through life s experiences together, the good and the bad, like chasing girls, getting our driver's licenses, and even consoling each other when Jayden s dad died. We were brothers. We were family.
Years ago, I remember hearing someone on television say that at some point, everyone goes through something in their life that forever changes them. I didn't think much about it at the time, but looking back, everything changed for me on a Saturday afternoon in May when I received a phone call from Jessie. "Hello?" I said. Jayden s been rushed to the hospital. It's serious! You ve got to go there right now! I ll meet you out front, she said frantically. My heart started racing. "What's going on?" "Just get here fast!" Jessie said quickly. I rushed to my car and sped off to the hospital, my heart racing faster than I had ever felt before. I pulled into the parking lot and found Jessie with a grim look on her face. We hurried into Jayden s room and found him lying on the bed, unconscious and attached to a machine. The doctor was in the midst of telling Jayden s mom that due to her son's congenital heart defect, his heart had become progressively worse and needed the help of a heart-lung machine to keep his heart beating. Jayden needed a heart transplant to survive. The doctor began to explain the organ donor process. Did the doctor just say organ donor, that I could lose my best friend if he didn't get a new heart? The sudden realization of what was actually happening hit me like a truck. I had never put any thought into organ donation, other than when Jayden and I had to complete the organ donation item on our learner s permit applications. We weren t sure how to answer the question, but we both checked yes, not realizing the implication of what that would mean to us a year later. It never occurred to me that 117,681 people were waiting for an organ at that time or that Jayden would ever be one of those people. 1
For the next six weeks, I visited Jayden in the hospital daily, hoping for the call that an organ was available. In my desperate search for information, I discovered that 18 people die each day waiting for an organ and a new name was added to the national transplant list every 12 minutes. 2, 3 What would make Jayden so special that he would not be one of those people to get a heart? I prayed for that gift to arrive soon. Seeing him lie there, frail and helpless, I was distraught and angry at the same time. I said to him, "You can't die! People depend on you! What about your mom? What is she going to do without you? What about our plans to see the world? You have got to hang on!" I sat back in my chair, feeling sleep-deprived as I watched the effects of the machine live his life for him. I tried as best as I could to remain hopeful even though there was no indication that anything would change. It was the sound of the string quartet that brought me back to the present day. By this time, everyone was seated. All eyes were affixed forward as the first speaker welcomed guests. When he initiated a moment of prayer, I closed my eyes, remembering that fateful day when I first discovered the severity of Jayden's illness. Yet, instead of a casket proceeding past us today, which was on all of our minds 12 years ago, we witnessed a procession of medical school graduates, future doctors who would dedicate their lives to helping those in need. Among these amazing people in the group was Jayden. A successful heart transplant in July of that fateful year had given him the gift to follow through on a career path that would allow him to help others extend their own lives. This heart transplant that he received was not just a gift of life for himself but for everyone else he would ever treat.
Works Cited 1. "THE NEED IS REAL." Organdonor.gov. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Mar. 2013. 2. "American Transplant Foundation." Facts and Myths. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Mar. 2013. 3. "Statistics Donatelife.net." Donatelifenet RSS2. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Mar. 2013.