A Happy Ending...or Beginning?
I just had to share this story I found in the San Francisco Chronicle!!! It's a truly amazing love story between Carrie and Zachary with a happy ending...which is just their beginning!
Five years ago Carrie Shellhammer was dying of pulmonary hypertension and Osler-Weber-Rendu syndrome and was in dire need of a double lung transplant. As she was staying at the UCSF Medical Center, Carrie and her mother picked out the songs that they wanted to be played at her funeral.
On December 29, 2003 Carrie received two lungs and this past Saturday she was able to listen to those same songs she picked out for her funeral being played at her wedding!!
Time had almost run out for her when the organs arrived. They'd been donated by the family of Joel Hanson, a 16-year-old from Clayton fatally shot in the head. Matt Callison, who'd become friends with Carrie in the UCSF hospital - and was featured with her in a 2004 Chronicle series about transplants - received the boy's heart.
For most people, a wedding is a milestone. For anyone in the transplant field, it's also a reminder of why they do what they do.
How true is the statement above? I think a lot of "normal" people often think life will progress something like this:
Yet, for our hero's who are organ donors and for the many people waiting for life saving transplants, their list may be altered or even cut short altogether. Like the article said, a wedding for most is a milestone or a right of passage, but for Carrie and for our Ted...it's a miracle and a blessing!!
Chown said she told him about her transplant the night they met three years ago, at a Lake Tahoe beach on the Fourth of July. He was working at the marina; she had gone to see fireworks.
"Zach never batted an eyelash," recalled Carrie, who will be 31 this month. "He just took it in stride. It's scary to build a life with someone who might be gone. But he says, 'Look at what we have right now.' "
The music at the wedding included "Blackbird," "Born to Fly" and "You Can Close Your Eyes," all destined for the funeral that never was.
"There was a point where I was ready to go," Carrie said. "It was a week where I couldn't have food or water. Zach has lost one friend in a motorcycle accident. I've lost at least 20, just by knowing so many people who were sick."
An honorarium table at the outdoor wedding featured photographs of deceased friends and relatives, surrounding a portrait of Joel Hanson. Although the Lodge at Tahoe Donner was full of life Saturday, it was impossible not to think of death.
Many guests were already crying as the bridesmaids walked down a path of white rose petals, to the accompaniment of "What a Wonderful World." When Carrie finally appeared, the music switched to "At Last."
"Today, we celebrate many, many miracles - incredible generosity, faith, medical science and the fact that life always gives us second and sometimes third and fourth chances," the Rev. Michael Moran told 140 guests.
Carrie has come along ways. She's climbed mountains and ran miles, but she survived:
During an interview in Sacramento a few weeks ago, she recalled the months before and after the transplant.
"In some ways, it seems like another life. In other ways, it seems like just yesterday," Carrie said. "I'm connected to it emotionally, but I'm feeling the best I ever have."
In all this, she's never forgot the person who got her where she is today:
The other young man in her life is Joel Hanson, killed in a negligent shooting at a friend's house on Dec. 27, 2003. The shooter pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter with use of a gun and is serving 12 years in state prison.
"I don't ever forget that what I have is because of Joel," said Carrie, who keeps his picture amid a gallery of family photographs.
The favors at the wedding consisted of donations to a 4-H memorial fund created in his honor.
Carrie has met only Joel's sister, Jamie. It happened at a donor recognition ceremony in April 2005. They cried a lot and said almost nothing.
At the end of June, on the day of her bridal shower, Carrie wrote to Joel's mother at 1 a.m. to tell her about the upcoming wedding.
"The way I live my life is a thanks to you and Joel," she wrote.
The Hansons were acknowledged repeatedly at the wedding, where the strange mix of miracles and medicine was the main topic of conversation.
"We wouldn't be here if it weren't for the Hanson family," Carrie's best friend, Amy Bonser, told the crowd at the reception. "Not only did the Hansons save Carrie's life - they changed every one of our lives."
So many of us have been touched by people like Joel Hanson (and their families), who we will never forget. We will never forget their selfless act of love and the courage they have shown the world.
God Bless you Carrie and Zach on your new path, and God Bless you Hanson family for your amazing gift to Carrie and her loved ones!!
