Thank You Letter to the Donor Family

Dear Donor Family,

Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Our seventeen year old son is a high school senior and third year starter on the varsity football team. He is a running back and had already accumulated over 450 rushing yards when forces combined to put an end to his football career and future dreams, of playing college ball and becoming a surgeon, on game six of a ten game season. While protecting the ball, he was tackled high and both he and the 200+ pound opposing player came down on our son’s right shoulder resulting in a class five separation. There are only six classes of separation and anything over a three is operable. The trainer said that was it. No one can play with that kind of pain…or should.

In an unusual twist, when the shoulder separated, it made a button-hole tear through the trapezius muscle instead of tearing it away from the bone. This allowed the collar bone to slide back into place even though it was now free-floating. The team doctor happened to be a shoulder reconstruction specialist who said our son could continue to play, not expecting him to do so since the pain would be too severe with every hit and tackle that he took. Believing his future football career to be over, he wanted to try and play those last games. The trainer ordered some magic tape and bound the shoulder; we added a compression shirt with extra padding and held our breath as we allowed him back on to the field.

Our son amazingly finished the season, coming in 7th in the division in rushing and 18th overall in the conference, and achieving 2nd Team All-Conference. The team doctor, after watching him play, said he’s never in his entire medical career seen an athlete continue with the kind of injury our son had, not college players, not even professional hockey players.

The one month delay between the initial injury and the end of the season meant our son’s own ligaments were no longer repairable. The common procedure for this kind of surgery is to harvest tissue from the patient’s own hamstring. This wasn’t really an option either because as a running back, his legs are his bread-and-butter. Your tissue donation made it possible for our son to have his shoulder beautifully reconstructed two weeks ago. He’s doing everything the doctor instructed and is healing nicely. Thanks to good test scores and grades, he’s currently in talks with nineteen schools about playing college ball, the dream he thought was gone six weeks ago. Included in those schools are several top tier schools like Princeton, Cornell, University of Chicago, Bucknell, and Case Western. Being able to play football may be the thing that sets him apart from other applicants and secures him an admissions spot. Your donation has given him back his dreams. Thank you just doesn’t seem to be enough.

Surgery Day

Kirk is home and resting comfortably. They did some really cool things with his pain meds that will help him get up on his feet faster and be more comfortable. Right now he has a personal ice machine pump and chocolate protein smoothy while watching Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull on DVD so he's as good as can be expected. He's texting just fine with his left hand.

I have to run down to Goodwill now and pick up some old sweatshirts and t-shirts that we can cut up since he can't put that arm through anything. He'll have about a four-inch scar and since it runs vertically, the doc joked that he'll still be able to model bras with straps. Kirk had the best line of the day...when they shaved his arm pit he asked if they would donate it to Locks of Love. He has a big ol' pillow (larger than a football) that sits under his forearm, keeping the shoulder in the best position. He has to tote it around for a month. I think it needs a name. Any suggestions?

He had it repaired with donor tissue. They asked us to write a letter to the donor family. I guess up until I read the request it was "cadaver" tissue to me, like Dawn of the Dead, not a real person. Obviously it is a real person, but I didn't mentally go there until I was asked. It's certanly something I never thought I'd do. I think it's kinda cool. Return to Me is one of my very favorite movies! If you were receiving such a letter, what details would you want to know???

Good News

We finally heard back on Jake's blood tests. Everything is normal. No celiac disease. Now we have to decide if we're going to pursue what is causing the inflamation of the tissues in his duodedum or let it "simmer" the way we are with his throat right now. I'll consult with the GI again next week.

Kirk's surgery is scheduled for Thursday, November 6th.