A few facts on organ donation...

Just wanted to share a few facts about organ donation -

As of today, there are 98,619 people waiting on the national transplant waiting list for an organ donation due to end stage organ disease...

There are 16,390 people waiting nationally on a liver...

In Alabama (as of 03/21/2008), at UAB where Nathan had his liver transplant, there are 3,158 people waiting on an organ donation...

At UAB there are 88 people waiting on a liver...

January - December 2007 there were 28,353 transplants nationally...

In the year 2007 there were 14,394 organ donors who gave the gift of life to others...

Each day approximately 77 people receive organ transplants...

Each day 19 people die waiting for a transplant...

The above information was obtained from the following sites: http://www.optn.org/data/
http://organdonor.gov/

I wanted to share a couple of pictures with you. The first is a picture of Nathan before his transplant and the second one is a recent photo after transplant (he is about to blow out a candle on his birthday cake).



Can you see the difference? I know it is hard to tell from a picture, but there is an amazing difference in Nathan. Like many of you, I never gave much thought to organ donation before we were faced with the possibility in our own family. It is not that I was against it in any way. I have always thought that organ donation was a great thinng, I just didn't think about becoming an organ donor myself. Nathan is the picture of organ donation.

Would you consider becoming an organ donor today? If you would like to register to become an organ donor, you can go to http://organdonor.gov/donor/index.htm and click on your state to register. We will forever be grateful to Nathan's donor and donor family. In the midst of their grief, the family of a 16 year old young man chose to give the gift of life. There are not words to convey our gratitude. The only thing that I know to do, is to try to show others how this gift has changed Nathan's life and our life as a family. That is what we will do.

Fun Weekend!

We have had a really great week at the Shelton household. Nathan has had a wonderful week back at school. He is absolutely loving it. He leaves home happy in the morning. When he comes home he is still smiling. I had thoughts that he might be tired in the afternoon but no way! Nathan has an endless supply of energy. It is a joy to see him so happy. He has been quizing everyone on weather. He couldn't believe that Stephen and I knew what a meterologist was. He was so proud that he learned it at school this week.

We have also started our soccer season this week. Harrison and Andrew are playing soccer. Harrison's team had a great game today. His team won their game 7 to 1. Harrison is a good little soccer player. Andrew had his very first soccer game last night and another today. He scored 6 goals last night and 5 today. It was so much fun to see him. He comes home from preschool each day and changes into his soccer clothes and he has been looking forward to his "first game" for a long time. He has been going to soccer practice with his brothers since he was a baby really. Now it was finally his turn. His team is made up of 3 and 4 year olds. They are adorable. They just run around and follow one another around. Sometimes they do flips or watch planes, whatever comes to mind. Every now and then, they do kick the ball in the goal. Priceless!

Stephen and I put together a video of the boys today. I have realized that I have not been too good at taking pictures or keeping photo albums of the boys. I started a baby book when Harrison was born, but never got too far. I don't think I even tried with Nathan and Andrew. I have always kind of felt bad about it, thinking maybe I haven't done a good job of documenting their younger years. I have taken lots of pictures. I just haven't compiled them in any way. I love video slide shows though. I think that it will be our new way of documenting events in our family. Our own little version of home movies. It is a lot of fun to do, and Stephen is really good at putting them together. I hope that you enjoy the video. You will need to mute the sound on the music play list at the bottom of the page in order to hear the music with the slide show. Have a great weekend.

Back To School!!

Today was a big day in the Shelton household. Nathan had his first day back at school since he had his transplant. He has been at home since early December. Prior to his transplant, Nathan had been in and out of the hospital and was at home receiving IV antibiotics for an infection before Christmas. We received a call on Christmas day that a liver was available for Nathan. What an amazing Christmas gift! Nathan came home from the hospital on January 4th, and since that time he has been at home. I really kind of liked him being at home. While he was here, I felt like I had some control over what things he came in contact with. I hate to say that I kept him in a bubble, but I kind of did! I have made it my goal to keep him away from crowds and out of public and tried my best to keep everything clean around him. All of that had to come to an end today. But it was time. Nathan was so ready to go back to school. He was very excited today, as you can probably tell by the above picture. He could not wait to see his friends. I think he is probably tired of me pulling the camera out for everything though. It is kind of like when you have a new baby and you want to take pictures of all his firsts. I feel like I need to capture all of Nathan's firsts after his transplant. I did try to get him to take one last picture in front of the school and he quickly said, "No" and covered his head up with his jacket! I guess that was his limit. He didn't want to be seen taking a picture by the front door! I walked him to his classroom and he went right in and started unpacking his bag and talking to his friends. I felt like I was leaving him at big school for the very first time. It brought a mixture of emotions. I am thrilled to death that he is back at school and doing so well, but I also have just a little twinge of sadness that he is back in the real world, a world that I have no control over. It was also a reminder to me that God has blessed us tremendously with three wonderful boys, and it is our job as their parents to guide them and direct them and to teach them about God. But when we do that, we then have to turn them over to God and trust that He will protect them. Today I feel like I let Nathan back into the real world, and now I have to trust and have faith that it is the right time and that God will protect him and keep him healthy and safe. Proverbs 3:5-6 says, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight." I can't think of better words to live by today. I pray these verses for all of my boys as well.

Happy 7th Birthday Nathan!!

On Friday Nathan turned 7 years old. It seems like only yesterday that he was born. I always kind of shrugged it off when someone with older children would tell me, "enjoy these years because they go by fast." Now I truly know what that statement means. It seems as if the days go by so very quickly. At the same time, it seems like so much has taken place within 7 years. I never thought when Nathan was born that his future held anything other than perfectly healthy days. I had no concept of liver disease or liver transplant. I am actually really glad that we did not find out about Nathan's liver disease until last year. It allowed us to live totally care free days without the worry of a looming health crisis. The events of the past year will shape our future, but I choose to look at things in a positive manner. I think that we will look at birthdays as a little sweeter and maybe enjoy these days (when the kids are so young) a little longer.

We spent the day at Smith Lake. The lake is our home away from home during the summer months, but we usually don't go very often over the fall and spring. We had not been since last August. Whenever we go to the lake for the first time of the season, it always seems new. Even though I have been there so many times before, I am always amazed at the beauty of the water. Nathan absolutely loves the lake as well and he couldn't wait to go fishing today. He did not catch anything, but he did not seem to mind. I thought I would share a few photos of our day at the lake.

Video of Nathan

I have created a video slide show of Nathan from about this time last year through transplant and a few days after. I hope that you enjoy it. You will need to mute the sound on the play list at the bottom of the page in order to hear the music with the slide show.

Make a slideshow - it's easy!

Faith

Have you ever given much thought to when you turn to God? I've given some thought to that over the past months, and I think that it is true that as long as everything is going well in our lives, we seem to be pretty self reliant. We think that we actually have control over our lives and that we can make plans and that those plans will actually take place. In essence, I think that we rely only on our own devices and don't necessarily seek guidance from our heavenly Father. Oh sure, we may thank God for our blessings and put forth our supplications or requests to Him; but I am not sure if we put our full trust and reliance on Him. I can say that before the events surrounding Nathan's diagnosis and transplant, the above described me. But what happens when something unexpected comes our way? What if our plans don't turn out to be God's plans? How is our faith affected? I think that there are two choices. Either we can totally crumble under the circumstances and get really angry at God for messing up our plans or we can choose to turn to Him and rely solely on Him to carry us through. Actually, I think it is more of a process. For me, it was more like I initially was angry and so unsure of how to turn to God. Then, as time went on I was able to see that my faith and trust could only be in Him and not on any strength that I had. Because really we have no strength apart from Him. It is almost that through a sense of brokenness, we can fully see our need and desire for a relationship with Christ. I think in this sense that going through a trial can strengthen our faith. A song by Mercy Me, Bring on the Rain has meant a lot to me over the past months. Here is a small portion of the lyrics:

Bring me joy, bring me peace
Bring the chance to be free
Bring me anything that brings You glory
And I know there'll be days
When this life brings me pain
But if that's what it takes to praise You
Jesus, bring the rain

Can we really say, bring me anything that brings you glory? And what about when we experience pain in life - do we praise Him? If that's what it takes to praise you, Jesus bring the rain. It is almost hard to say that statement. Certainly we do not want to experience trials or pain, but if (and when) we do, will we allow the trial to bring glory to Him and will we lift up our praises to Him? I pray that we will.
Lora

Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency

I have found a video that I think gives a reasonably simple explantation of Alpha-1 and its effects on the liver and lungs. I thought that you might like to see it. It helps me to visualize what is going on in the body.

Well, I can't explain why exactly I have decided to start a blog.  I always thought that those who posted about their lives on the internet were a little odd.  But then our lives changed.  Last April we found out that our son Nathan has a genetic condition called Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency.  We found out in August that our son Harrison has the same genetic condition.  In the blink of an eye, I felt like life would never be the same.  All of a sudden people were speaking to me about the need for liver transplant.  I have a strong faith in God but all of a sudden I had so many questions.  Over the coming months I went from being angry and scared to a place where I now know without a doubt that this is the plan and journey that God has intended for our family.  That doesn't necessarily mean that I am always happy about it, but I do know that whatever comes our way, God will be with us.  I have placed a scripture passage at the bottom of the page that has come to mean a lot to me.  Jeremiah 29: 11-14 says, "For I know the plans I have for you" declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.  Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to your heart.  You will seek me and find me when you seek me with your whole heart.  I will be found by you," declares the Lord.  Long before our family ever faced this journey, God knew the plans.  That is comforting to me.  If he knows the plans, then I know that He will carry us through.  And as a family, we want to seek Him with our whole heart along the way.  

After the initial diagnosis I started searching the internet for some sort of information.  Of course I had all kinds of information from our doctors, but what I really wanted was to be able to see a family who had been through something similiar.  I was able to find several blogs from families facing similiar circumstances.  And now, here I am today.  I hope that maybe we can share our story of pediatric liver transplant so that others might see our hope.  And, maybe along the way, some one will decide to become an organ donor.

So, why the name Ordinary Miracles?  It is almost a misnomer because all miracles are extraordinary. I like the song Ordinary Miracle by Sarah McLachlan.  The lyrics speak about "ordinary miracles" such as snow and the growth of a seed, raindrops, and the sun shining. These things happen everyday and truly are miracles but we think of them as ordinary things.  Do we really stop to think about how extraordinary life is?  I don't know that I ever did much before, but I would like to think that now, after Nathan's transplant and the gift of life that he has recieved, that maybe I do.  There is nothing ordinary about the life that God has given us.  Each day is an extraordinary miracle. 

It's not that unusual when everything is beautiful
It's just another ordinary miracle today
The sky knows when it's time to snow
Don't need to teach a seed to grow
It's just another ordinary miracle today

Life is like a gift they say wrapped up for you everyday
Open up and find a way to give some of your own
Isn't it remarkable like everytime a raindrop falls
It's just another ordinary miracle today

Birds and winter have their fling but always make it home by spring
It's just another ordinary miracle today
When you wake up everyday please don't throw your dreams away
Hold them close to your heart because we are all a part of the ordinary miracle
Ordinary miracle, do you want to see a miracle

It seems so exceptional that things just work out after all
It's just another ordinary miracle today
The sun comes up and shines so bright and disappears again at night
It's just another ordinary miracle today

It's just another ordinary miracle today

I hope that each of you will thank God today for the ordinary miracles of life and be thankful for your children and the joy that they bring.

Lora