I spoke with Dawn Williams yesterday from Kidney.Org, the organizers of the Transplant Games which Dottie has competed in 7 times and won several medals.  I had called her because Dottie is going to the Transplant Games in Madison, Wisconsin at the end of July, beginning of August to compete in the track and field events and told her about Dottie's Dream, her non-profit which raises money to buy fitness equipment for kids who need weights, trampolines, bikes, anything to give to kids who are about to undergo transplants a means to help keep them strong.   While awaiting her transplant, Dottie told me that it was crucial for her to keep moving, no matter what she did as it gave her a feeling of Independence from her disease. That feeling has been crucial for her survival after all these years.
   
When I first met Dottie over 13 years ago, she was a relatively new double-lung transplant patient.   All of the anti-rejection meds she had taken over the years had destroyed her kidney and that's how she wound up with the Transplant Games and Kidney.Org. I remember at the time HBO was following her, Dottie was looking around for possible donors who would meet her medical criteria. A very dear friend of hers stepped forwarded and offered to donate her kidney although she and Dottie were not a match so that Dottie could move up on the transplant list.   Tell me that isn't a testimony for friendship.  

I have witnessed Dottie in her amazing life...never giving up even when the odds have been against her.  She has a faith in a higher power, God, whatever you want to call it because she has faced death so many times and the only real reason she feels she is around is because somebody "up there" wants her to stay around along with her stubborness...There is no mistake why Dottie has such a passion for life...because she has faced death again and again and does not take the precious gift of life for granted....as I have done by really not respecting myself, my body, spirit and the gifts given to me.  There is no mistake why Dottie and I have re-united after all these years...Obviously the man upstairs thinks we both can learn something from one another at this time.  I was speaking to Dottie last week on Skype about how she prepared herself for transplant and recovery...I literally had to pause several times during the conversation because the truth and bluntness about her experience was so startling that I had to catch my breath as I teared up...she went into this place which was  so direct and poignant that  shook me to the core....

I am thrilled to have started this adventure with Dottie because she brings an appreciation for life that I don't possess...I am trying, but not quite the same.  At times I see life as a struggle, Dottie only sees it as an Adventure.  I have seen life's issues as problems, Dottie only sees them as challenges.  As I get older, I am trying to liberate myself from negative thinking...Dottie is the medicine for that.

This weekend she is taking some Dottie time with her son Liam and a very dear, dear friend for the 4th of July down at "The Cape".  I know she will be celebrating "Independence" in a way that is special to her.  I will try to do the same in a way that is special to me.

Dottie and I at Whole-Body Wellbeing hope you celebrate your "Independence" this weekend in a way that is special to you!

Happy 4th!!!

Sharon
"Live Life Fully"....my new affirmation that Dottie has taught me.