Sometimes you come across people in your life that you can't help but feel a strong connection to! For me that has happened alot in the past give or take 4 years that I've been doing my blog and focusing on CF awareness. I can't say that any connection is stronger than the other or better than the other. What I can say is that some tend to surprise me a little bit and hold a special place in my heart.
Growing up in a small WV town with Cystic Fibrosis it's normal to hear stories of other "Cystic's" who may be in your area or who is treated in the same hospital. Well, that is just what happened for me with Morgan Yoney. Although, before I "knew" her, as we have never met in person. I never knew who people were talking about just that this young girl who had Cystic Fibrosis and a double lung transplant was doing amazingly. I had heard about her fundraising and her selflessness to help others often. As most of the time nurses and medical staff keep certain patients in their hearts even after they have moved to another state, hospital, or sadly pass on. Normally, it's the ones with a sparkling personality and positive disposition in life.
🌟I'd like to say I'm that type of patient, but I have no clue.
Once I started my CF blog our paths crossed and I knew exactly who she was once she had told me she went to WVU's CF clinic.
🌟Now, I know how creepy that sounds, but it was more of a, "finally I can put a face and a name to this young CFer I've been hearing about for a little while."
Sadly, by this time her first transplant had already started to fail her and she was in failing health, but I guess I could say I saw a lot of me in her, as she didn't let that stop her. She was on a mission to do as many things as she can for others that I was in awe of this girl! The more I saw her posts and spoke with her I found out we have much more in common that just CF and our childhood Hospital. Morgan was and is my, Alpha Sigma Tau Sorority sister as well!
⚓Which just goes to tell you that AST is the best Sorority one can join!
Something just clicked inside my heart when all of these things came out about her and getting to know what a wonderful selfless young lady she truly is. That I admire her strength and will to live!! She deserved to be healthy, like most of us do, but this girl in my mind deserves it, because of how badly she is fighting for it.
Right now, Morgan is roughly in the same health standing CF wise as I am. We have a lot of similarities as I said even personality traits that we seem to share. She was last tested with an FEV1 of 19%, however, this was prior to a devastating hospital stay that was so bad she was even removed from the transplant list. Luckily, her will to fight and live her beautiful life was stronger than CF and it's nasty hold it has on us both! She was able to go home with a trek system for breathing and is now in the fight to find donor lungs. She is seeking lungs from an 0 Positive(0+) donor and because of her situation being so severe and so critical is asking for a, "Direct Donor Donation".
♻This is when someone who is a donor and is the 0+ blood type can sign their lungs to Morgan to assure that she is able to get lungs ASAP. As she is listed almost last after being taken off of the list during her last medical ordeal.
I know a lot of people have been unsupportive of this decision she and her family are making and the Internet is not a friendly place to be at times. The thing that people seem to be over looking is how many people die waiting for donor organs simply, because people don't want to be an organ donor. Morgan, like everyone on the transplant list, is fighting for her life! She has found a loophole that doesn't skip a single person, although, that is sadly how people are seeing it!!!
🌟I guess this is my selfish part of this blog.
At the rate I am at and our health standing being so similar IF I was on the list I feel I would most likely get the lungs Miss Morgan is needing, if not done with a direct donor. We would have both been set up with the same transplant team and hospital in PA. My decision to take myself off of the list makes me feel like perhaps she has a better chance at getting lungs that will benefit her alot more than they would ever help me. I know deep in my heart that B. Cenocapacia would have taken over a set of new lungs and would have been pointless for me. For her, they will be a breath of fresh air! She will have such a better life with the lungs that I possibly turned down!!
🌟Small secret, I have been struggling with the choice to not get the transplant since I made it, until I put it in that perspective. Even if not Morgan, which honestly I doubt my removing my name from the list a year ago this May is going to be the lungs she personally gets. It does mean that someone like her will be able to be breathing better and have a better chance than I would!
Look at the bigger picture sometimes instead of just yourself. When you pass on, why not be an organ donor? Just like money, your organs don't go with you when you die, in fact in some cases they get thrown away! That is a waste of what someone truly needs to stay here! So, what's the harm in giving life back to someone? Essentially, helping you live on through them!!
Supporting Morgan's Army,
Sandi
For more information on Morgan, direct donation to her, or her struggle with CF join Morgan's Army on Facebook. Spread the word, post signs, share her updates, and if you are not an organ donor yet, change that and become one!! It's really easy!
For more of my journey, thoughts, and CF info follow me on Facebook! I'm pretty boring and not as active with awareness as of lately though. :)
