Blessed

 My family is feeling God's love pouring down as my brother Ty received a lung transplant last night.  He was born with Cystic Fibrosis 44 years ago and was misdiagnosed for many years.  It wasn't until he was 21 and my mom had her last baby Tommy, who had CF, that Ty was correctly diagnosed.

Cystic Fibrosis is a genetic disease that causes mucus to build up and clog some of the organs of  the body, particularly the lungs and pancreas.  This mucus makes breathing extremely hard and also blocks the digestive track from  absorbing important nutrients.

His lung capacity was getting so low he was finally put on the transplant list.  He was called in to the hospital last night along with another patient.  They were both prepped and when the donor lung was deemed worthy, the best recipient would receive it.

Last night that was Ty!!!!!

This is not a cure all as he still has CF cells all throughout his body, but his quality of life will greatly improve and he will probably be able to breath like the rest of us for the first time in his life.

     Ty, Jeannette, Margo, Aaron, Mom, Dad, Adam, Kyle, Marie, Nielsen   2009

Tommy is not in this picture because at 3 months he died of complications from CF.  He would be 24. 

There is so much we can't control, but also so much we can.  Ty loves sports and even though you'd think by the way he was breathing that he just ran a marathon instead of to 1st base, it didn't stop him from playing. He loved refereeing for Texas high school football games and even though he would have to hook up and do breathing treatments in between calling plays, it didn't stop him from doing what he loved.

His recovery will be difficult as his body adjusts to this new set of lungs, but we are all ecstatic and so thankful for this miraculous blessing.  We are also extremely grateful for the choice this donor made to donate his organs.

And in other news......................

She passed!!!!!  Oh yes she did.  It is a great day for my family.  So much good news at once.

I could not be prouder of my big sister.  Studying in between taking her kids to the park and making them dinner.  Reading textbooks at the pool all summer.  Getting hand me down books from friends and garage sales to study.  She is A-mazing.   We all love you and are so proud of you Netty.

I know this life will bring more trials and heartache.  But for today I will rejoice with my family in all our good fortune.  We won life's lottery today.  Life is good and God is great!


If you missed it:
Jeannette
The Internship