Good News!
HAPPY AUGUST EVERYONE!
After the last year we have all experienced: covid cases on the rise, lockdown, vaccine line-ups, social distancing, wearing masks, hand sanitizing etc. it is time for some good news!
Well keep reading……we have it!
Last spring, we created a new section in the RAP newsletter called “Care for Colleagues”.
We presented Shirley Kendrick’s need for an urgent organ transplant.
Today we have received an update from Shirley herself.
“Thank you, RAP!
“For I know the plans I have for you” declares the Lord. Jeremiah 29:11
It is yet another beautiful morning. Every morning since July 15, 2021 has been beautiful to me. On July 15th, I was blessed with a combined liver/kidney transplant. I had been on the official organ transplant wait list for one year and eight months after many years of failing health. The procedure was extremely complex given that I had had three previous kidney transplants including a living donor donation from teacher Barbara Parker. Transplants are a form of therapy and not cures. I had another chance with a new kidney and additional new liver as my previous transplants had failed.
Post transplants, I was advised there is no more room for any more organs and if I need another one, it’s going to have to be placed in a purse that I can carry around. Of course, the doctors were teasing me. It does remind me of just how blessed I have been over all these years to have treatments, including transplants, to give me hope and a future.
This year, Claire, Denise and the RAP executive generously provided an awareness campaign called “Care for Colleagues”. Team Marilyn Minnick and Joanne Golla have been steadfast in their support for me and my family and have been a conduit to RAP on my behalf. The web presence and ongoing conversations put us in contact with so many of you and your generosity was evident. Many thanks to the RAP Executive and the team.
It is highly evident that prayer, well, that prayer works! I felt the prayers of the many exceptional RAPers and am humbled by the generosity with which those prayers were provided.
As I journey on the road to recovery, I have another request. DP RAPers have been generous with your prayers for me and now I ask, please keep my liver/kidney donor and his/her family in your prayers. Please pray for the medical teams that facilitate these procedures and all those who make the choice to give the gift of life: a gift that has given me many beautiful mornings with the promise of many more to come.
Thank you, Dufferin-Peel Retired Administrative Personnel
Shirley Kendrick
beadonor.ca"
Doesn’t this update make you smile? We are so happy for Shirley. As we continue our prayers and positive thoughts for Shirley’s good health on her road to recovery, we appreciate our Canadian Health System and applaud the miracle workers that work in our medical care facilities. Sending smiles and hugs of support to Shirley, our front-line workers, doctors, nurses, and all medical staff.
Claire Devlin, President RAP