Winter time has come in strong, It’s rained, it’s blown, it’s snowed week-long. But it's Christmas! Time for lights and cheer, Dear Santa, here's my wish this year.Christmas should be full of fun, of gifts and food and time with everyone. So many things to look forward to, And yet, this season is hard to… Continue reading Dear Santa,
Tag: heart transplant stories
Cake Day
Sometimes I find it very difficult to be a heart transplant recipient. This was especially true when I was a kid. I didn’t want to acknowledge it happened. I didn’t want to acknowledge it at all. I just wanted to go back to being me, a normal kid. That never really worked out but I… Continue reading Cake Day
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The Pressure To Do Great Things
I remember when the Tim McGraw song “live like you were dying came out”. I was 16 years old and around three years post transplant. In the song, someone is telling a story of when they were given devastating medical news in their 40s. In this conversation in the song, the friend then asks “what… Continue reading The Pressure To Do Great Things
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What Happens When you Forget How to Live?
A few years ago, I wrote a blog post entitled “It’s About Being Alive”. I think I was probably right about that. It’s just that somewhere along the way I forgot what that actually means. Sure, life is about living, but how do you actually live? I wrote that post back in 2019. Well, a… Continue reading What Happens When you Forget How to Live?
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So…I Had a Heart Transplant
Would you ever know if I didn’t say it out loud? On October 16, 2001, I had a heart transplant. Ten days later I got to go home after 145 days in the hospital. I remember being on the couch right after I got home. It was fall. I remember it being gloomy. And there… Continue reading So…I Had a Heart Transplant
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Suffering Isn’t Cute
People who are suffering are not appealing. It is hard to be around them. It seems they take up more space than they should. We stay away as if they are contagious. Suffering isn’t instagramable. It isn’t inspiring and it certainly doesn’t seem helpful to most of us. And yet it’s at the root of… Continue reading Suffering Isn’t Cute
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The Drop
It’s been a tough long year. It’s crazy looking back and seeing how much I really did this year. I had to relearn how to live fully in the world post-pandemic. I went from fully masked at work to forgetting to even have a mask on me. I went from “I’m never travelling again” to… Continue reading The Drop
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Why Not?
I was watching a show the other day and the young girl on the show started talking about her dreams. She wanted to have lots of kids and had a whole vision for her life. My reaction was not very positive. While listening to her I even caught myself saying “good luck”. I was a… Continue reading Why Not?
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Young at Heart
There are a lot of scary things about being a transplant recipient. Not only was I suddenly bombarded with endless medical procedures that I would have to endure for the rest of my life but I also started hearing all kinds of scary information about what it means to be a transplant recipient. Some of… Continue reading Young at Heart
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17 Again
I know this seems ridiculous but for a long time I’ve felt like my life peaked when I was 17. I was in college, had a bunch of amazing friends, and was always out on adventures with them. After that I became very lonely at University and started having trouble even getting out of bed.… Continue reading 17 Again
Laura Bradley 