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| Helen and Julia with Dr. Rush at CJOB studios |
On Saturday I had the pleasure of joining the Manitoba OR Nurses Association conference as they had requested a living kidney donor transplant pair to speak about their experiences as patients. Julia received her sister Helen’s kidney last year. It was clear that this was a gift of pure love. Helen and Julia had the room both laughing and crying as they shared their stories. Afterward, many people came up to thank the ladies for sharing their perspectives. Karen, the conference organizer had this to say in an email to Helen this morning:
“I cannot begin to tell you how much positive feedback we received after your presentation. It was such a great feeling to hear your story. As an OR Nurse we rarely hear the end results and the life story of where you are now. That, as I stated, was the highlight of our day. You are to be commended for so much, and sharing your journey was a honour for us to experience. You are a great speaker. There was not a dry eye in the building that is for sure. As a nurse in a mechanical world sometimes, we absolutely love to know how our patients really do after the technical piece is completed.”The beautiful part was that this was a gift for Helen too. In an email she wrote to Karen and me:
“Thank you both so much for giving me the opportunity to speak at the MORNA workshop to share my story and to give me an opportunity to acknowledge and thank the good work of the transplant program as well as the people at the HSC who helped along the way. Everyone was so warm and welcoming and I felt very honored to be there. Many people came up to us later to talk about their own personal tragedies that they were currently going through and it was so nice to be able to talk to them and offer them some encouragement and hope!”
