May 12, 2011

I would be remiss not to tell you about Christine, my wife, whom I met back in 1999.

I guess you could say that we met by accident.  It was just after Christmas when I went online and was looking for some Diabetes websites.  I stumbled upon this one site where it was a typical support site where people could post questions and get answers to just about anything.

Christine had posted a question about how to deal with her new diagnosis of Diabetes.  I saw the question and posted a response.  That led to more questions a newly diagnosed Diabetic would ask, and a conversation, of sorts, began to emerge.  That led to an exchange of emails for a couple of weeks, and before too long we were talking on the phone for what seemed like hours. 

At this time, Christine was living in the Washington D.C. area (originally from Long Island, NY).  I invited her to come up for a weekend and she accepted.  When she arrived she had three big bags, and as I was introducing her to mom and dad, dad looked at her quizzically and asked her, with his wry sense of humor, “how long are you staying, a month?”  You see, dad was a minimalist, so he did not quite understand the need for three big suitcases for a trip that would last for a day and a half.

Needless to say, that was the first of what would be many trips here, and soon she was looking at the possibility of moving here.  She fell in love with the quaint sea side town that Duxbury is, and the charm of the South Shore…and of course she fell in love with me and my charm as well!

As it turns out, the chance encounter on that Diabetes website was the start of what has become a beautiful relationship.  And as the years have gone by, I couldn’t imagine anything better – except more maybe a better health record.

But, in essence, I couldn’t imagine facing all of the complications I have had with my Diabetes, especially the heart disease, the kidney disease and the eye issues without Christine by my side.

Facing a heart bypass operation is scary in of itself, but now having to face not only the possibility of a kidney transplant, the definite probability of it.  I am very thankful for the support my family has shown me (how much more supportive could Tommy be than to be willing to donate one of his kidneys to me, I cannot find the words to show how grateful I am to him for this gift).  But words also cannot express how what Christine means to me as we go through this kidney journey.

I often kid her that she never signed up for any of this.  And without missing a beat, she will always turn around and say, I love you, and we will all (your family, my family and us) get through this together.

Christine and Bella

Thank you for being by my side Sunshine…I love you!

If you, or someone you know is interested in organ donation, please contact: www.neod.org; www.organdonor.gov; www.unos.org; www.donatelife.net; www.organtransplants.org; or  www.thewaitinglist.org