"Not ours to keep . . . a piece of heaven . . . a crown and robe she would wear . . . so stop a moment and look above . . . she now flourishes . . . a beautiful rose for the angels to see . . . forever together in our eternal resting place . . . my heart fills . . . you know my pain and I know yours . . .my son continued to give blood until two weeks prior to his death . . . he loved mankind . . . Dad, we can beat this together . . . that day he became my hero . . . he would say he's not the hero-the recipients are the heroes-they are the ones who suffered all these years . . . I refer to myself as a responsible member of the human family . . . I get by with a little help from my friends . . . we are so hard on ourselves . . . thinking we should be better . . . should be over it by now . . . friends and neighbors put shoulds on us in an attempt to comfort us . . . the only authority on your grief is you . . . you should try to get out of bed . . . eat something nourishing . . . try taking a shower to relax the muscles in your neck and release some of the tension . . . a good place to cry . . . get dressed-something comfortable, something that feels good . . . shoes . . . and please remember-socks are optional . . . you don't know what it means to wake up and know life again . . . our stories are all similar . . . this beautiful gift I was given-the chance to donate organs . . . we were stuck . . . she wanted to be a doctor . . . to help people . . . let's donate her organs . . . thank you for enjoying the gift . . . he was an outgoing person who never met a stranger . . . when I do get my driver's license, I'm going to be an organ donor . . . I remembered what he had said . . . he's gone and doesn't need them, so why not give them to someone else . . . I give blood in honor of my son . . . ."

We would like to share some information concerning the "Gift of Life" Eric was able to give.

Eric's left kidney recipient is a 51-year-old lady from Florida. She is single and worked as a truck driver before her illness forced her to retire. She has been discharged from the hospital and is doing very well. She is looking forward to a happier and healthier life without the constraints of dialysis.

Eric's right kidney recipient is a 37-year-old gentleman from South Carolina. He is married and has an 11-year-old child. He collects old cars and motorcycles and works as an auto mechanic. He is recovering very well at home. Eric's kidney was a perfect match for this man.

Eric's heart valves will be used for children that will have to have heart valve surgery. The heart valves can accommodate their growth throughout their lives, enabling them to avoid multiple surgeries. It may take a couple of months to receive the information on the recipients.

Eric's liver recipient was a 53-year-old gentleman from Florida. He passed away 3 days after the transplant. But we have been told he was extremely ill and this was his only chance to survive his illness.

A 65-year-old man from Florida received Eric's left cornea. We have not yet received the information on the recipient from the right cornea transplantation.

Amazingly, each of the individuals above shares a special interest with Eric.

We hope this information will help your families as much as it has helped ours. Some days this is the only way we are able to make it through by thinking that at least he has helped other people to live.

Thanks,