<\/a>And you\u2019re right. It\u2019s unimaginable, and I hope you never have to experience this \u2014 the horror, the grief, the surreal fear, the constant shock of trying to understand how your perfect baby suddenly needs a new heart. I still struggle with how huge it all is, and I\u2019m living it.<\/p>\n\n\n\nIn those first days, when the enormity of Sabrina\u2019s diagnosis finally sank in, I didn\u2019t know how to keep moving forward. I practically bullied Sabrina\u2019s medical team into giving me the names and phone numbers of other parents who had walked this road. I asked daily. I needed someone who had lived this nightmare and survived it. I needed to hear from someone who could tell me that it was possible to keep breathing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Eventually, they did give me those names \u2014 and two of the very first parents I connected with were Miguella and Emily. I\u2019ve now met both families and their beautiful, strong girls, and I am so grateful to them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When I met Emily and her daughter Rinkin in person \u2014 Rinkin, who is now three years out from her transplant and full of life \u2014 it was the first time since all of this started that I felt something resembling hope. I remember telling Emily that I didn\u2019t understand how she survived this\u2026 how she lived through the waiting, the fear, the freefall we are in right now. And she looked at me and said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHave you seen the documentary?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I had no idea that during their own months of terror and survival mode, these two families had worked with a film team to create a documentary that walks through the entire pediatric heart transplant journey \u2014 every stage, including the actual transplant itself. It\u2019s incredibly hard to watch, but that\u2019s the point: it shows exactly what this process really is. And it isn\u2019t just any team on the screen \u2014 it\u2019s the exact team we are working with now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The same doctors, nurses, and social worker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The same transplant coordinators and child life staff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The same surgeon who will one day have my daughter\u2019s life in his hands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Every face in it is someone I know. It is so honest and so complete that watching it felt like looking into a mirror of my life right now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the middle of the same unimaginable emotions I\u2019m feeling now, they chose to take their pain and turn it into something intensely raw, honest, and profoundly beautiful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It actually took me over a month from learning about the documentary to find the courage to watch it. The first time I finally pressed play was a night I was alone at the Ronald McDonald House. I was already carrying so much, and watching it brought up emotions I didn\u2019t even have names for \u2014 intense, overwhelming, and incredibly moving. And somehow, in the middle of all of that, it gave me something I desperately needed: hope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because these weren\u2019t just families on a screen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They were girls I\u2019ve met. Girls who are thriving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Seeing them living full, vibrant lives after transplant made me believe, maybe for the first time, that Sabrina could get there too. The documentary wrecked me, moved me, grounded me \u2014 and in a strange way, it comforted me. Because for the first time, I could see the path Sabrina might take. I could see kids come out on the other side. I could see families who survived what we are facing right now. And that is a gift I can never repay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So when people say, \u201cI can\u2019t imagine,\u201d I understand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But if you want to understand even a sliver of our reality\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you want to feel the hope we are fighting for every day\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you want to honor the families who turned their darkest season into something that now supports families like mine\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Please watch this documentary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then hug your people tight. Really fucking tight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And maybe have a few hard but important conversations about organ donation \u2014 because if the unimaginable ever happened to someone you love, the gift of life can change everything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\nhttps:\/\/vimeo.com\/912048574\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
The password is FreeHeartSisters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The number one thing I\u2019ve heard since Sabrina\u2019s diagnosis is: \u201cI can\u2019t imagine what you\u2019re going through.\u201d And you\u2019re right. It\u2019s unimaginable, and I hope you never have to experience this \u2014 the horror, the grief, the surreal fear, the constant shock of trying to understand how your perfect baby suddenly needs a new heart. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2394,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
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