I hope and pray this letter finds you and your family well and healthy. I had an interesting experience over the
summer of 2003 and I had to tell you about it. Some of you have known for some time I was suffering from a
kidney condition. For the first seven years of my life, my urine was backing or refluxing up into my kidneys due
to a genetic problem with my ureters. These are small tubes that carry urine from your kidneys to your bladder.
This condition was corrected at the age of seven; however, due to the large amount of damage to the small
filtering cells within my kidneys during early years, my kidneys began to fail about the time I turned thirty years
of age. I was very blessed to have some great doctors and nurses looking after me. With that care and the
good Lord by my side, my kidney function decreased very slowly which allowed me to have a kidney transplant
without ever having to go through dialysis. I was on the transplant list for approximately one year and seven
months. I received a phone call one Thursday morning from Atlanta telling me that Piedmont Hospital had a
kidney for me. According to my doctors, things went as well as they could go. I was confined to home for four
weeks and was at the mercy of my stepdaughters to cart me around running errands (and honey do's).
Needless to say, I was happy to get back to work. I can not thank my staff enough for taking care of everything
while I was recovering. I was blessed by Dr. Middleton and Dr. Singleton who took care of our patients while I
was out. Last, but not least, thanks to my wife Jackie. She had the pleasure of taking care of the perfect
patient as well as putting up with me while on heavy doses of Prednisone (makes me very irritable!). They all
did an awesome job and I can not thank them enough. I received many cards, gifts, and letters with helpful
hints of what to do while sitting at home. Thank you for the kindness you showed me and my family.
The main focus of today is organ donation. The fact that I am now a recipient of an organ, I can not help but tell
you how much of a difference it has made in my life. Four hours after the surgery, my wife Jackie asked how I
was doing. To my amazement, I began to realize that I was feeling better than I had in two or three years as
the "refrigerator on my back" type feeling was gone. I also realized the miracle I had been praying for had
happened. (Thank you Jesus!) If you are not a donor, may I invite you to become a donor and give someone a
second chance like I have had. Not many of us like to think that one day we will die, but truthfully, you can not
take those organs with you.
My family and I had the opportunity to donate my father's organs when he was killed in a car wreck in 1990.
Organ transplant services harvested his heart, eyes, lots of skin and lots of bone for those in need. Organ
donation was a bright light in our tragic situation due to the fact that it helped so many people in different ways.
As I am typing this, I can not help but think there is a man in Alabama that is carrying one of my Dad's kidneys.
There are over 50,000 people across America waiting on a kidney and many more for other types of organs.
After being a donor and recipient, it is a blessing beyond your greatest imagination. Give the gift of life and be
an organ donor.
Dr. Michael Vaughn
DON'T TAKE YOUR ORGANS TO HEAVEN. HEAVEN KNOWS WE NEED THEM HERE.
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