“You left a legacy.”

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“We may not have walked the same path before, but today you walk with me ...”

Thus begins one of the many anonymous letters written from an organ transplant recipient to their donor. The author goes on to celebrate their donor’s life legacy and express immense gratitude for the gift of a new life. “I do not know the dignity of your birth or the tragedy of your death,” the letter continues. “But you left a legacy, which I try to honor every day.”

Each year at UK HealthCare, an average of 250 people are given a second chance at life through the miracle of organ transplantation. This life-saving work depends wholly on the generosity of donors and their families who make the selfless decision to give the gift of life.

Most organ recipients will never meet their donor, whose death made a second chance at life possible. Nor will they have the opportunity to thank their donor’s family and let them know a part of their loved one will live on. Organ donation after death is anonymous; the only way a recipient can meet the family of their donor is if the family requests an update and consents to being contacted. The Dear Donor Project is a way for recipients to share their experiences along with the words they wish they could say to their donors. Their words are intimate glimpses into the profound impact a donor’s sacrifice can have.

Dear Donor,

There are no words to fully express my love and gratitude for my kidney donor, my granddaughter. You gave me the gift of life. You are my hero. I love you.

Dear Donor,

I have been waiting for this moment. I received my new kidney many years ago and haven’t had any major issues. I asked long ago if I could send the donor family a thank you card or note but back then they felt it best that the family not be reminded of the death of their loved one. I am as thankful today as I was then.

Thank you God and the amazing transplant team at UK Hospital along with the kind family that chose to donate life.

Dear Donor,

We may not have walked the same path before, But today you walk with me ...

You pray with me ... you sing with me.

You laugh with me ... you cry with me.

I do not know the dignity of your birth or the tragedy of your death.

But you left a legacy, which I try honor every day.

If I could speak to those who miss you still, I would want them to know,

The one they love so dearly, lives on in me.

I am forever grateful.

Dear Donor,

Last winter I sat in a cold dialysis chair and listened to the words of this song over and over and over.

"Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you
Tears stream down your face
When you lose something you cannot replace." —Coldplay

I was weak, swollen, exhausted and so sick. I felt less than a shell of my former self. My kidneys had finally failed after many years fighting type 1 diabetes.
(Something I could not replace.)

I didn't have any family members that were a match out of the few that tested. The same was the case with a few loving friends that attempted to save my life.
(And tears often streamed down my face.)

But in my darkness came a call...we have a match. The person wants to remain anonymous for now, and it might take a few months before they can donate due to family circumstances.

The waiting was hard. Actually next to impossible as I felt my bones ache night after night. I felt my skin stretching with toxic fluids.

But of course I waited. I had a big heart in my corner now.
(Lights will guide me home.)

He, as I found out a week before transplant, was a former acquaintance of my husband. He crossed paths and then moved on. But now he was right in front of me.
(And ignite my bones. And I will try to fix you.)

This year I received a kidney. My life was better the second I woke up from surgery. I could breathe deeply and my body stopped hurting. It's a challenge to adequately explain kidney disease and failure. It's deafening and ruthless.

I write this letter to thank you for this gift. You did a wonderful job in helping to "fix" me.

With love always.

Dear Donor,

I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you and I know there are not enough words to express how thankful, grateful, and appreciative I truly am, but I am going to try.

If not for you and the selfless gift of lungs that I received I probably would not even be here today. I have been given a new life. I have gotten the opportunity to spend more time with my wife, spend time with my kids, and watch my grandchildren grow up.

Due to your selflessness, you still live on, inside of me. I am so blessed to be here and have been praying and will continue to pray for your family for peace and strength. It is truly a miracle and I thank God every day for another day to live.

Dear Donor,

If only I could have seen you to thank you in person, it would have been such a blessing. I think of you every day and what you mean to me. I pray for your family and friends in their loss. Your kindness and selflessness to donate your organs was the most of heroic choices.

I have been able to live again, to pursue dreams I thought long gone, even those as simple as taking a walk. I always wonder what kind of life you led and if maybe we accomplished any plans you had.

I will cherish my gift always. Thank you for this blessing in my life, for the miracle you’ve given me.

Dear Donor,

Thank you for your kindness and unselfishness in literally giving of yourself so that I have the opportunity to live a better life!

Your heart and I, have become one!

Dear Donor,

I would like to tell you and your family that you have given me the chance to extend my life. I know it has come at the expense of your death, and for that I am extremely sorry. What you have done for me is very generous and selfless.

I have tried to make the most of this opportunity you have given me. I'm near my fifth anniversary of transplant, without any setbacks. I wouldn't say that it has been a cake walk, with Covid and all, but I have done what has been needed to protect this special gift you have afforded me.

I want you to rest assured this gift has not been wasted and how grateful my family and I are for your generosity and compassion.

Dear Donor,

I’m so very thankful for a 2nd chance, but I struggle with this. Why me Lord? Why not this young person I now carry inside me? Survivor's guilt.

Every day I remind myself, My Lord has a purpose and a plan for me. I know not what it is, but someday it will be revealed, to trust and believe the process.

And to your family, the courage it takes to give the gift life is so very humbling. To put someone else's needs above your own, especially in a time of grief ... For recipients like me.

Dear Donor Family,

I am writing this message with deep respect and gratitude in my heart. Recently, I received a life-saving liver transplant, and it is with a mix of emotions that I reach out to you today. While I don't know who you are, my life has been forever changed because of your loved one's selfless act.

I want you to know that I am acutely aware of the immeasurable pain and loss you must have experienced. Your loved one's decision to become an organ donor has given me a second chance at life, and for that, I am eternally grateful. Every day, I wake up with a renewed sense of purpose and a profound appreciation for the gift I have been given.

I can only imagine how challenging it is to cope with the void left by your loved one's absence. Please know that their legacy lives on through me. I am committed to living a life worthy of their sacrifice. I will honor their memory by making the most of this precious opportunity and carrying their spirit with me every step of the way.

Although we may never meet, please find solace in knowing that your loved one's gift has not been wasted. I will cherish it always and strive to be the best version of myself. If you ever feel a need to connect or share stories about your loved one, please know that I am here, ready to listen.

In closing, I want to express my deepest condolences for your loss. Your loved one's kindness and generosity have touched my life in the most profound way. May you find comfort and strength during this difficult time, and may their memory bring you peace.

With heartfelt gratitude,
A Grateful Recipient

Dear Donor,

The late singer/songwriter John Prine wrote “It’s a big old goofy world” to explain how the world may not make sense but if you work hard, things may eventually sort of work out. That is how I think about this gift you have given me with my new lungs. When I learned my disease, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, would require a lung transplant or I would not live, and that I would have to abruptly give up my work and the life which I thoroughly enjoyed, I could not make sense out of this news. Why has this happened to me? I am sure your family had similar thoughts. Why?

Today when there are things that happen in life I can’t explain, I just say it is a big old goofy world.

It has been a couple of years since I had my lung transplant, but with a lot of hard work, determination, good medical care, and a few setbacks, my goofy world is starting to work out. I look at life much differently. My wife and I are finally back to living our lives, not the same, but to the fullest, only because of your generosity. I want you to know I thank you every day of my life.

God bless and thank you.

Dear Donor:

Please, count the stars.

Thank you. When I consider standing before you and in one breath uttering the words I am sorry and thank you, the words seem shallow and pretentious. Although I will never completely comprehend the gravity of your loss I must find some words that provide a description while also finding some feeble way of saying thank you. In a moment of tragedy you and your family decided that the gift of life might somehow provide purpose, meaning or maybe hope for a better future. All I can say is thank you but that is not enough. One life for another does not describe in real terms what your love has accomplished. Even if all of the transplant recipients stood before you and your family with tears in their eyes proclaiming their gratitude I do not believe it would do justice or help fill the void of your life.

This letter is all about your loving kindness and my heartfelt gratitude, and it is my responsibility to honor the memory of your loss with my gift. I have for months struggled with this letter. When should I say thank you? How should I say thank you? What is the appropriate period of grieving? How will I find the words to convey both grief and joy? As you can plainly see I am still struggling to find some semblance of what your gift has meant in my life. However, I can pledge that I will be grateful for every sunrise and sunset. I can pledge that I will live a life with meaning and commitment to the principles that make our society work for everyone. I will make it my mission to love unconditionally. I will do everything I can to honor your gift. Thank you for your kindness.

As you can well imagine over the past 12 months it is easy to estimate 3,500 caregivers have repeatedly touched my life with tender loving care. These caring loving people have done everything possible to make your kind donation a success. When considering the complexity of providing world class care and all of the elements required, I can only say thank you. Every day I was fed, bathed and medicated. Every day someone came into the room to clean and sanitize. Every day doctors, nurses and other caregivers accommodated my every need. This hospital provides world class care and they made me feel as if I was the only one that mattered. But of course I realized even then that wasn’t true. It’s all about the connections created by your gift of life.

Every day since the bilateral lung transplant, points of connection have been created by care givers who have made it their mission to oversee your kind donation and my quality of life. Day in and day out they adjust, examine and record data. If every examination, blood sample or biopsy was described as a point of connection it would be easy to imagine an exponentially increasing number. If in addition to those connections the care givers spouses and children were included in those points of contact the number becomes even larger. When the future of organ donation and the data it accumulates are included it becomes difficult to wrap one’s head around the impact that the donate life program ultimately has on the surround community. I have received the gift of a bilateral lung transplant as the result of your decision to donate life, and this describes my struggle. How do I convey the impact that your kind donation of life has made. First and foremost it is not about me. Thank you for the gift of life.

I hope in the future where ever you may be, you take the time one night to lie in the cool green grass and stare up at the stars and try to count their number. When you lie in the grass and stare up at the stars I hope you can imagine all of the points of connection created by your gift. In a moment of tragedy your decision has provided hope, purpose and a second chance at life. Please imagine that all of the stars represent someone holding a candle in remembrance of you. Your gift has instilled hope for a second chance. Thank you …

Dear Donor Family,

I’d like to apologize for taking so long to write. It has been two months since my kidney transplant and I should have written sooner. I’ve struggled with what to say that will both express my gratitude and tell you how blessed I feel to have received your loved one’s kidney. Id like to begin by telling you how sorry I am that your loved one passed away. I lost both my mother and my twin sister a couple of years ago within three months of each other, and that grief is still fresh. Your loved one’s sacrifice is not lost on me. I was in end stage renal disease. My reality was traveling an hour three times a week to dialysis every week. There are no holidays, no breaks. I went to dialysis on Christmas Eve, my birthday, my anniversary. I went last summer three times a week when we took a vacation to the beach. When you don’t feel well, you go, anyway. I went when I had Covid and the day after I came home from having quadruple bypass on my heart (probably caused by calcium build-up from the dialysis). I even went the day my sister died.

I was miserable. It was a depressing life to lead, and it’s what I had to look forward to until I died. I read online that the life expectancy of a person on dialysis is about five years, so I lived thinking about dying soon all of the time. The transplant has changed my life. I can look forward to the future now. There’s a man in my church who had a kidney transplant almost twenty years ago, and he does well. That’s going to be me. This new kidney has given me a new life! I am so, so grateful! Every procedure, every medicine, every food restriction since the surgery has been worth it! I am so grateful that I have received this gift!!

I want to tell you a little bit about my life. I was a teacher for many years. I retired about the time that I started having health problems, so I really wasn’t able to do the things that I had planned on doing after retirement, but I did get to keep my granddaughter some, and I was able to drive my mother to her chemo treatments at first. We have a very small family. I’ve now become the “matriarch” of the family. They all depend on me. I can now look forward to a future of being here for them, of sleepovers with my granddaughter and family meals with my kids, of plans my husband and I have made together. I’ll have the strength and energy to go places and do things. Most of these things were difficult or impossible before.

Once again, I want to thank-you for the choice that your loved one made for me. I encourage everyone to make that same decision. You have no idea what a difference it can make in someone else’s life, but it really does. A new kidney gives new health, new futures, and new possibilities to the recipient and the people who care about them. Your loved one has allowed my life to be a testament for all of those who know my story. Believe me, I’ll tell anyone who will listen!

Dear Donor,

I have been thinking about you since I received the gift of life through your gift of organ donation. I want you to know that I continue to give thanks each day for this gift. Please know my life has completely changed because of this generous act. Words cannot express how thankful my husband, myself and are families are for your compassion.

Prior to my liver transplant, I was always tired and unable to do a lot I would go to work and wasn’t able to spend as much time doing things with my husband and are families. During the last six months prior to my transplant, it was getting harder and harder for we to work so the doctors suggested that I should go out on disability, but before I could start that process, I received my liver transplant.

The doctors said the only chance of survival would be a Liver transplant, but the hardest part of that for me was that someone was going to have to pass away for that to happen then we received the call. My thoughts were with you as I faced a huge operation. I am grateful that you agreed to help others during what must have been an extremely painful time. This decision is amazingly heroic.

Since my liver transplant I was able to go back to work within 3 months and I can go and do everything that I want with my husband and family. I’m not as tired as I was before the transplant. I appreciate every day that you have given me a second chance in life. I feel every new day brings new possibilities and that I can accomplish things that were inconceivable before.

To your family, I know that there are no words I could possibly say to you that could spare you from the grief of your overwhelming loss, but please accept my heartfelt deepest sympathy.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you for the gift of life.

Dear Donor,
My family would like to thank you for helping our father, husband, and uncle overcome kidney failure. Four years ago, we were uncertain about the future. Your generous contribution has transformed my father’s life for the better.

We are grateful that compassionate people like you exist in this world, and we wish you and your loved ones nothing but happiness.

Dear Donor (and Husband),

Who would have ever thought that my husband would be a match? God totally had a plan for me. We met on a blind date MANY years ago and at that time I didn’t know I had kidney disease. I am so blessed that he chose to get checked out to become my donor. I am so thankful that his love for me is so strong. We are totally united together forever.

I love you!

Dear Donor,

I just want to shout “Thank you” for caring enough for others that you had the foresight to become an organ donor. Because of your decision to do so I have been given a second chance at life. Because of you my granddaughter will now be old enough to remember me. Because of your decision I am able to eat again; to walk; to hug the people I love again and make more memories together as family and friends. Because of you my wife isn’t a widow and my children and granddaughter now celebrate my new birthday instead of having to plan and attend my funeral; without having to face their future without my being there to help when things are difficult. Thank you from the bottom of your heart that lives in my body.

It saddens me that you had to leave the people behind that loved you; and the people you loved has to go on without you. I pray that your parents had gone on before you; I pray you did not leave young children without a parent. It’s always hard the hurt never goes away; but those two groups always seem to bear the loss so much harder. I pray daily that God will strengthen; provide; protect and comfort your family always. I thank you and I hope your loved ones find comfort in knowing that part of you is still living and bringing happiness to an old man who because of his heart never really had a normal life ever. You are my hero.

I thank God daily for my chance to go on living and I thank Him for you and your thoughtfulness. I pray that you knew Jesus as your Lord and Savior.

May your rewards be many as you rejoice in heaven with Jesus and your friends and loved ones that are there welcoming you home.

Dear Donor,

God bless you for giving my husband a second chance to live.

He was working hard for his retirement in a couple of years when out of the blue he had a massive heart attack that nearly ended his life. Because he was so healthy and physically fit, he survived the attack. He was left with very little function in his heart and a transplant would be needed.

After months of praying to Jesus, he got a new heart... Your donated heart.

We do not take this lightly. We have so much gratitude and respect for the person giving the donation.

Not a single day will go by that we will not be thankful for this gift and it will never be squandered, I promise you that.

We realize donation of organs is not an easy decision and in some cases the hardest decision a family will make but God bless you and know that you are appreciated.

With much love and respect thank you and God bless.

Dear Donor,

God is the giver of anything good. I will never stop giving God the praise for sending someone like you with a gift of life that allowed me to continue living a normal life.

I am several years out now since my kidney transplant, and not a day passes that I don’t cherish the precious gift and the love that you showed me by donating a kidney. People like you are selfless and compassionate, and there are no words to express the gratitude I have for you.

My lifestyle had always been an active one, and I was devastated when the doctors informed me that I was in kidney failure and would soon need a transplant. Things changed dramatically with the next few months, consumed with ways to get my life back to normal. It was difficult for me to continue working, being a wife, homemaker and Mother plus staying active in church and community activities. However, most of my time was spent doing kidney dialysis and searching for a kidney transplant donor. Through much prayer and the help from my daughter, we began researching organ transplants and then started our journey with the staff at University of Kentucky Transplant Center seeking a potential compatible donor. Evaluations of potential donors began shortly thereafter. Within a few months, the most important phone call of my lifetime came from UK … a living donor was found. God sent YOU; what a blessing!

Because of YOU, I would get to enjoy my life again. It meant that I would get to resume my active lifestyle and help plan my daughter’s wedding. And then two years later, I was blessed to become a grandmother, with a second granddaughter coming two years after the firstborn. One of the greatest joys in life is to become a grandparent, and your gift of life made it possible for me to spend the rest of my life enjoying these two gifts from God.

I honor YOU every day of my life in different ways from simply taking my meds, going to the doctor for checkups, keeping my kidney healthy, sharing my story about YOU with others, remembering YOU in prayer, and staying involved in the donate for life organization. For this, I am eternally thankful for YOU.

Dear Donor,
Thank you for providing me the opportunity to see my grandchildren arrive.

Thank you for enabling me to enjoy my retirement.

Thank you for enabling me to see things that I may not have seen.

Thank you for enabling me to spend more time with my family.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to live.

Thank you for donating the organs of your loved one so that others may carry on their lives.

Thank you.

Dear Donor,

Thank you for giving me this beautiful new life. You and your family made a selfless choice that demonstrated the purest form of love.

I promise to take care of this precious gift, and will always treat it with the love and respect it so deserves. I will be forever grateful to you, and this bond we share.

Dear Donor,

I am glad for this chance to say thanks for saving my life. Knowing it has been a long time, I am so torn that it took losing your loved one. I am so very grateful that I am able to watch my family (especially my granddaughters grow).

I wanted to let you know, the kidney has served me well, we were such a perfect match. I think of your family, and now that I am getting old, I especially want to say I owe it to ya'll and the decision you made back then. I hope your life is as blessed as mine is and again, thanks.

Dear Donor Family,

I would like to begin with how thank you can never be enough. I know this is not easy to read, and I am terribly sorry for your loss, and to give thanks feels wrong. Before my liver transplant, I thought plenty about everything I would miss out on. I wanted to pray, but I also felt like I was praying for the passing of someone. This was a battle I have never quite figured out. How is one worthy for someone to lose their life for another to live? I have yet to understand how God chose me, or chooses anyone for that matter, as it just simply does not have an answer.

I have taken this question and applied it to my second life. I want to assure you that I have tried to become a person who would be somewhat deserving. I have taken this as an opportunity to grow as a person and truly understand my friends and family. I am eternally grateful for the moments I have witnessed and would still like to give thanks despite the situation.

Thank you is just two words that could never capture my appreciation for this second chance at life. However, it is all that can be put into words. Thank you for allowing me to be a dad to my kids alongside my wife. I got to build a better relationship with my oldest daughter, and now we are the closest we have ever been. I watched my son graduate from college and become a bright young man. I watched my baby girl excel academically and grow into a beautiful young lady who recently began college. I got to meet another grandchild and watch my three grandbabies start to grow up.

This second chance has given me a new perspective. I was always a family man and held my friends closely; however, I try to show it every day and moment I can. As I stand by words that thank you can never be enough at the end of the day, all I can continuously say is how thankful I truly am and will always be. Thank you.

Dear Donor,

I don’t know you, this person that gave me their kidney. I want you to know you saved my life and how much I appreciate your donation for without it I don’t know that I’d be alive this day.

You have given me so much. I now have a beautiful granddaughter that i get to see because of you and my 4 kids want to say thank you as well. I can never repay you for what you have done for me by saving my life and giving me a second chance at life. But I do want you to know that every day I open my eyes I thank you for doing this for me. I seriously hope that one day I get to meet you and get to know you as a friend and family because now i have a big piece of you in me so that makes us family now. I love you and thanks again for a second chance at life.

Dear Donor,

Thank you for giving me a second chance to live a long life, be a wife and watch my child grow. I am so sorry for your loss, but so much thanks.

Dear Donor,

Thank you for your selfless act of kindness. What a blessing you have been and a life changer.

Thank you for the gift of a better quality of life for me and my family. God bless you and again I say THANK YOU.

Dear Donor,

There is no way that I can express my gratitude. My biggest fear of being on the transplant list was that I knew someone had to lose a loved one in order for me to live.

I have a loving savior that picked the right one for me and I will always praise the Lord for you. I am so thankful and blessed and I pray that one day I can meet your family. 2020 was a sad year for a lot of families, for me and my family it was miraculous.

The Lord had mercy and sent me to the best place I could be at this point in my life. So thankful for the UK Transplant Team and their God given knowledge to do what they do.

Love, Prayers and Thanks to all. May God bless you in every way possible.

Dear Donor,

I and my husband were both given your incredible gift with the donation of a liver. When we first heard mentioned that we might be able to get a living organ to save my husband’s life, we were kind of dumbstruck … It just seemed unimaginable that such a gift could be given. And it seemed a little bit otherworldly that someone would be able to provide this for him, but that is exactly what happened.

Your choices and generosity of heart are what made it happen. Words are, of course, completely inadequate for this gift of life, but we do thank you and we are so grateful. My husband is trying to be a good steward of this incredible gift that he’s been given. We are so grateful for people like you and your family, who truly follow the admonition of Jesus to treat your neighbors like you’d like to be treated.

We were both given new life by this organ donation. We are humbled and are trying to follow the generosity of spirit that your example set for us and we are so sorry for the loss of your dear one who gave us this gift.

Dear Donor,

I am sorry you had to leave this world.

I am grateful you are a donor.

I am thankful to be a recipient.

I am blessed to have a donor like you.

Dear Donor,

My kidney transplant has given me over a decade of a healthy, rich life, free of the burden of repeated dialysis treatments. I hope for many more years with this kidney. The return to active, energetic, “normal” life after being on dialysis is beyond describing. I felt exhilarated and so thankful, and that continues each day. Kidney transplant is truly the gift of life. Thank you.

Dear Donor,

I would like to give my thanks and love for giving my husband a liver transplant 5 years ago. That is one of the greatest gifts someone can give to a total stranger. My husband is doing great and I know without this gift he probably wouldn't be here today. My husband and I have always said that we would be organ donors and one day we will but at this time I thank you for this gift of his life.

Dear Donor,

I'm very grateful and thankful that our Father in Heaven and you gave me a second chance at life. I have lived my life as close as I can to God. I have 10 grandchildren now, and if I hadn't received this gift I would have never seen 3 of them born.

I think about you daily and I think about your family and how grateful and thankful I am. It takes special people to give a gift of life and that's what you did for me. It's hard to put into words just how I feel. I know that it was a hard decision maybe the hardest in your life. I have lived 5 years so far and hope to live 5 more. You will never be forgotten by me or my family and friends. They thank you that you gave me a second change. Know that your gift is still alive thank you.

May God bless and keep you in his loving arms.

Dear Donor,

There are no words that could express my gratitude for the precious gift of life you gave, I will be forever grateful and do my very best to make sure that this gift was not given in vain.

There is a special place in Heaven for you and the ones like you that made this choice of compassion!!

God Bless you! Thank so very much for your thoughtfulness.

Getting this second chance at life has been an opportunity that I cherish every day, When I got home from the hospital after the transplant I would just stare at everything the world has to offer in natural beauty and tranquility, these things I took for granted before this happened to me, now I take it all in.

Thanks again and I will never forget the pain you went through to make this choice of giving life and for the gift I am eternally grateful!

Dear Donor,

You were my husband’s donor, and for that I would like to thank you with all my heart. His life before transplant was very bad while on dialysis for 3 1/2 years. Hospital stays and life-threatening illnesses several times during this.

God sent you in a time when your family had to make a brave decision but let me tell you I’m ready to do the same when I go. I’ve signed my license and registered as a donor also because I see firsthand what a second chance on life it is.

God bless your family from a very grateful wife.

Dear Donor,

After losing my kidneys, my life depended on my connection to a dialysis machine. You, a precious angel, donated your organs to save other lives that you had never met. I became the recipient of one of your precious gifts. I never learned your name, but I promised your family I would do everything in my power to keep your kidney functioning so part of you would remain alive.

With the medical care from the transplant center and others, along with my determination, I have kept my promise. In 2023 your special gift to me is still functioning within my body. For fifteen years, I have truly been blessed. Often people do not consider becoming an organ donor; however, your thoughtfulness completely changed my life.

I am also an organ donor, and pray I will someday meet my exceptional angel in Heaven.

Dear Donor,

I would like to thank you for the gift of life you have given me. I realize the extreme sacrifice this gift has cost you. I received my gift over 20 years ago and have had the opportunity to enjoy life to the fullest with my husband, our children and grandchildren.

I can never say enough. Thank you.

Dear Donor,

Thank You for giving me more time to spend with the people I love and those who love me. Your decision to donate saved my life, increased my faith and renewed my spirit, no gift is more selfless.

I am truly blessed beyond measure and compare. I live my life in thankfulness taking nothing for granted. May God bless you with his favor and grace covering us all in his love.

Just know when I look in my grandkid's eyes, hug my wife or cast a line in the lake, none of this would be possible without you saying yes.

So once again, thank you for saying yes and giving me another chance at life.

Dear Donor,

Thank you so much, if it was not for God and your family and you, I would not probably be here today.

Thank you for signing up to be a donor.

Dear Donor,

I cannot put into words how thankful I am for my donor. You are a special person. If not for you I wouldn’t be alive today. I’m forever grateful to this wonderful person. I feel sad that I cannot thank you in person. But to whoever reads this, they can rest assured there will always be a place in my heart for the gratitude and honor that I give this wonderful angel.

Dear Donor,

Our hearts and prayers are with you and your family at this most difficult time of life. You are such an amazing person to give such a gift that you have given. You have changed not just my husband’s life, but our life together.

Through this process, we knew that a family would lose a loved one, this was truly difficult. We are so grateful for your generosity and thoughtfulness. We have prayed for you and those beside you.

You are an Angel sent from Heaven, maybe we will meet you there. God bless you. You will be in our hearts forever.

I will think of you often, when I hear my husband breathing easy again.

Thank you will never be enough.

Dear Mom,

I just wanted to say thank you for giving me your kidney!

I love you!

Dear Donor,

Saying thank you doesn't seem to be enough to say and let you know how I feel about the gracious gift you gave me last year. I thank the Lord Jesus Christ for saving me and for you. I pray that God will bless you and your family for the precious gift you gave.

You will be in my heart and my family hearts until Christ calls us home. I received a liver and kidney transplant, and that is why I am here today. So with grateful heart I thank you so very much for the wonderful gift you gave. God bless you and your family for the gift.

I also want to thank the doctors and all the nurses who took great care of me. They are a great group of people and thank God for them also.

I will keep you all in my prayers and with a grateful heart I say thank you so very much. God bless all of you.

With love and gratitude,
GOD BLESS YOU ALL.

Dear Donor,

Thank you so very much. If it wasn't for you than I wouldn't be here to see my girls grow up. Words can't describe how thankful I am.

So from the bottom of my heart thank you so very much for giving me my life back.

Dear Donor,

Words alone really cannot express what being given this set of lungs has meant to me and my family. Because of your donation I have been given the greatest gift of all, the gift of life. I am now able to watch my grandchildren play and grow and do things with them that I was unable to do before.

I really appreciate being given this second chance. We are forever thankful and grateful to you and your loved ones.

At any time, nearly 1,000 Kentuckians await a lifesaving organ transplant. Donors and their families empower medical teams to complete their life-giving work. Without these donors, organ transplantation is not possible. To learn more or to register as a donor, please visit donatelifeky.org.

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“You left a legacy.”