| Honoring the “Heart Man” I went to a memorial service recently for a great man, Cliff Steer. You might not have heard of him, but thankfully, tens of thousands of young adults have. They heard him talk about how he had made poor choices in his youth. Poor choices about who he hung out with, what he put into his body. About how smoking and alcohol had poisoned his body and crippled his heart. He would stand there, in front of his young audiences, holding his heart. Yes, holding his original, diseased heart. He’d show them exactly what his poor choices had done to his heart, and why it had almost killed him. But, luckily for Cliff Steer (and all of those thousands of kids and teenagers), an anonymous organ donor gave him a new heart and a new chance to make better choices. And that is exactly what he did; he made the choice to live for the next 18 years without alcohol and cigarettes. And, he made the choice to focus on educating others about two things, two very important things. First: Make the right choices. Second: Be a donor. Make the right choices. Sounds simple, but not really. Cliff would tell students to do more than just “say no”. “Saying no” isn’t enough if you keep trying to fit in with the wrong group…eventually, you get caught up in making the wrong choices, Cliff would say. You have to get away from the wrong group. Hard? Yes, but necessary. He’d underscore this point by showing his old, diseased heart and pointing out the very visible damage caused by the bad choices made in his youth. It made a powerful impression. Be a donor. Sounds simple, and it really is. The trouble is it takes a bit of time to do it right. You can easily download a uniform donor card off of a number of donor-related websites (www.shareyourlife.org being one). The form is easy, just sign and get a witness to sign. You can also get a donor card and sticker for your driver’s license at your local D.M.V. office. But there is one more really important thing about becoming a donor! You need to make sure your loved ones know that organ donation is your wish. Because if you die, and your family is grieving, the last thing that they are going to want to do is agree to have your organs removed, unless they know beforehand that that is your desire. You need to educate them now. The “shareyourlife” website has a family notification form on it to help you do this. Or just talk to your family. At the memorial service, I saw how much Cliff Steer had meant to so many people. He had lived long enough for him and his wife Jean to have four children, nine grandchildren and countless good friends, all of whom had clearly been blessed by Cliff being a part of their life. Without his heart donor, Cliff might not have had those 18 more years to make such a difference in so many lives. Kids and teens throughout the world might not have heard him (“The Heart Man”) talk, either in a live presentation or through his video (which he had made of his presentation and had sent out to schools and organizations all over the world). If Cliff’s heart donor hadn’t communicated his wishes to his family, perhaps my ten year old son wouldn’t have heard Cliff’s talk and been so inspired about how making the right choices could so impact one’s life. At the memorial service, Cliff’s unidentified donor was publicly thanked. I wish that individual’s family could have attended the service and seen what wonder had come out of the unselfish act of organ donation by their family member. April 20-26 is National Organ and Tissue Donor Awareness week. More than 80,000 men, women and children currently await life-saving transplants. Take a moment and make a life-impacting choice: become a donor. And tell your family that you’ve done so, and suggest that they, too, become donors. Imagine how you’d feel if someone is your family needed an organ and it wasn’t available. Become a donor for yourself, your family and others. Do it because it is the right choice. Do it for “the Heart Man”. Just do it, today. By Diane Blum copyrighted |
 |
|
| Cliff's wife maintains a website, www.heartman.org |
 |
 |
| Back to Reflections page |