A New Life

On January 21 , 2012, someone chose to keep giving as their own life ended. We were awakened by a phone call at 5:00am. All I heard was "he got the call" and I was UP!! Mark, my brother, had been on the double lung transplant list for 8 short days!! What a miracle! Mark has been suffering from Cystic Fibrosis all of his life and it was beginning to slowly, painfully, BREATHLESSLY take over his body. He was on 24 hour oxygen and had no energy to enjoy his life. So, at age 33, he was given a "new life". One that would NOT require an oxygen tank, hose, and mask. One that would NOT require constant breathing treatments. One that would NOT require constant antibiotic regimens. One that WOULD require a LONG LIFE of breathing freely and a LIFE full of energy to live out his dreams.
Mark is my superhero. He came through that surgery and was up and walking the very next day. I lovingly call him Lung Boy:) He is a constant inspiration to me. To see someone who has had to fight all of his life face this surgery and all the COULD BE complications, he has managed to overcome them ALL! There have been so many miracles that happened in the wee hours of January 21 , 2012 and continue to this day...THIS amazes me!
I would have gone insane had I not hopped on a plane to go see my family that day. Yeah, it was that easy to just hop on a plane because Southwest Airlines(Mark's employer) told my dad "however many tickets you need, you got 'em". All I had to do was show up at the airport and tell them who I was...MIRACLE. I got to Nashville and SW had planned on paying for a taxi to get me to Vanderbilt Hospital, but as MIRACLES happen, Sandy(Mark's sweet friend) was just getting off work and volunteered to take me instead. Southwest had planned a bake sale with all the proceeds going to Mark and Amy. Pilots, flight attendants, perfect strangers tried out-donating(<---is that even a word?) each other. I don't know about you, but I have never heard of a bake sale raising over $3000.00. How MIRACULOUS!
After I get there, I find out that as this selfless person donated their lungs, Mark's surgeon got on a private jet, analyzed the lungs and found that they were, indeed, a perfect fit..I am thinking... yep, MIRACLE! His surgeon was able to make incisions into Mark that would make his recovery time so much faster..and you know what? That worked! MIRACLE!
Mark's body quickly received these new lungs as its own with NO complications. I am thinking I need to find a new word for MIRACLE:)
Mark was released from the hospital in 2 short weeks. His stay at a hotel, nearby the hospital was cut short, due to his MIRACULOUS recovery. Before Mark could go home, Amy's sister, Sarah had decided that she would call a company to have the air ducts cleaned in Mark's house just to make sure he didn't get any infections due to poor air in their home. She did just that. She called a RANDOM company and they were set to clean Mark's house. I feel another MIRACLE coming on... oh yep, here it is.. As the paperwork to clean Mark's air ducts lay on the counter at the company, a young girl walked by, recognized the name, and told her DAD, the owner of the company, that she had gone to school with Amy(Mark's wife, in case you hadn't guessed this by now) and told him of Mark's MIRACULOUS surgery. Well, the dad said that there would be no charge for the air duct cleaning job, as he considered it his contribution to help Mark and Amy out. This stuff doesn't happen every day, folks. I don't think I could find anyone out there that could deny that GOD had his hands ALL OVER THIS.
Mark and Amy now have clean air in their home. Mark continues to go to pulmonary therapy and continues to make the doctors scratch their heads in amazement.

I know I said I needed to find a new word for MIRACLE...well, I couldn't find one. Nothing compares to the TRUE word, which I KNOW to mean(and this is my own definition): an event wholly orchestrated by God and NOT man.
Even the thesaurus couldn't compete....marvel, phenomenon, portent, prodigy, rarity, revelation, sensation, stunner, supernatural occurrence, surprise, thaumaturgy, unusualness, wonder - NONE of these words can even compare to MIRACLE!

With MUCH humbleness and Love,
K