In this world I live in, being a heart transplant recipient, I hear many stories of hope, many stories of loss, many stories about life. Each one is unique and each one inspires. The stories never get old but let me tell you just two more stories to explain my love for the Chicago Bears and how that relates to me and the gift of life. The first story begins with my family and our roots with the team. Dave's grandfather (Grandpa) was a generous business man and use to lend his fleet of semi-trucks to the Bears so that they could transport their equipment to away games. The Halas family appreciated this gesture and in return personally assigned Grandpa, 2 seat - season tickets. It's the one valuable possession Grandpa, who now lives in Arizona, feels proud to pass on to his family. He says it's something we'll remember him by. And this is his legacy. We'll also remember his big belly laugh but that story is for another time.
The second story has allowed me to continue my admiration for the Bears by showing how they helped Charles "Peanut" Tillman through A Bears Toughest Challenge. His young daughter needed a heart transplant this past summer and when he thinks about the gift and the donor family, he says "It's kind of like, Wow! They did such a selfless thing." This story appeared on NBC yesterday. Little Tianna had dilated cardiomyopathy, just like me. ABC picked up a similar story about the Tillman's. A very little hero gave Tianna a very BIG gift.
Steve loves the Bears too because of Walter Payton who spent his final months as an advocate for organ donation, appearing in many commercials to encourage others to donate organs. Steve and I know that these efforts helped us get the gifts we needed. Ask him about it sometime.
