Gaea Shaw...
Dying to Live:
From Heart Transplant to Abundant Life
On October 26, 1997, I received a life-saving heart transplant. Before my transplant I was at death’s door. My heart was so weak that I couldn't even take a short walk. Seven weeks after my transplant, I went on a two-and-a-half-hour hike. I was ecstatic -- I was given a second chance at life! Two weeks after that I started swimming lessons, and only nine months after my transplant, competed as a swimmer at the 1998 U.S. Transplant Games in Columbus, Ohio. These games are Olympic style competitions for people of all ages with life-saving transplants.
"I swam the fifty-yard freestyle and won the gold! I swam the five-hundred-yard freestyle and won the gold again! I swam the fifty-yard backstroke and won the silver! Within seconds of the first win, I was profoundly struck by the realization that my greatest joy was not in winning the medals but in being alive, being there, and being able to compete full out. That was the true victory. In my mind, every participant at the games was a gold medal winner. To this day, that is how I see it."
From Dying to Live: From Heart Transplant to Abundant Life, p. 62. Copyright © 2005 by Gaea Shaw. Published by Pilgrims Progress, Inc.
Welcome to the world as seen through my eyes...
"Most people have no idea of what goes on with a person who is waiting for a transplant. Each journey is unique, but one thing is common to everyone on that waiting list . . . A transplant is the last resort, the only possibility for life after all other avenues have been explored."
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"I discovered courage through my journey, but I have no singular ownership of it. Just to be alive brings its challenges that must be faced.
I see courage everywhere."
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"Most of us are better at giving than receiving . . . All my life, I have been self-sufficient, rarely asking for help. With so much at stake, it was time to change all that. I challenged myself to write a letter to my friends and family requesting their support. (It) came from many places, known and unknown. I had no idea what would happen if I simply allowed myself to accept the abundant generosity that was coming my way . . . The outpouring of support spoke to the open heart everywhere that yearns to be a part of community, to serve."
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From time to time, when I need to lighten up, I think about this: "Comparisons create suffering. They are endless and fruitless . . . My grandmother used to say, 'If we hung all our friends' problems on a clothesline, then went to pick whose problems we wanted, we'd probably end up choosing our own.'"
From Dying to Live: From Heart Transplant to Abundant Life, pgs. xvii, 12, 16, 45, 70. Copyright © 2005 by Gaea Shaw. Published by Pilgrims Process, Inc.
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