My dad, Jeff, was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia when he was 45. Eight months later his brother donated stem cells for Dad's transplant. The transplant worked and he was cancer free when he died 5 months later. Unfortunately he picked up a bug somewhere and it destroyed his lungs and he couldn't survive, but that doesn't change the gratitude I have for my Uncle Steve who gave us the gift of a lifetime. This is a poem that I wrote for him.
The Gift of a Lifetime…
What does that really mean?
Is it the trip you always wanted to take?
Or the new car you had your eye on?
For me it is something that comes in a small, flash-frozen bag, smelling of garlic.
Life in the form of stem cells.
Life in the form of hope.
It cannot be matched but that is not why I call it the Gift of a Lifetime.
Your gift gave him five months more of life.
Time to see me graduate.
And start my M.Div.
And go the cottage again.
And become himself again.
Time to visit Kingston and London.
And win at monopoly.
Time to be a family.
And love.
And laugh.
That is the Gift of a Lifetime you gave.
Thank you!
