Donate Life
Apr 1, 2022
April is National Donate Life month, a time for all Americans to honor and celebrate the generosity of those who have saved lives by becoming organ, eye, tissue, marrow, and blood donors and to encourage more Americans to follow their example.
The Gleason family will be forever grateful for the donors and their families that made the excruciatingly painful decision that gave Colleen the gift of life at age 3 and 20. Because of these donors, we were able to have the true blessing and gift of Colleen for 27 years. Please, if you are still not a donor, become one. Find out how to sign up to be an organ donor in your state today at donatelife.net!
Read Colleen’s own positive, grateful, words on what those gifts meant to her and her family below.
You too may be inspired to become an organ donor!
Colleen Marie Gleason shared these thoughts via CaringBridge on March 25, 2020:
"Retransplant is a shitty word to hear.
I heard it seven and a half years ago and it rocked my world completely. Now, I am starting to hear this word more and more with each stay in the hospital and my mind turns it around every which way, trying to see if there is a new perspective that makes it easier to hear and digest (there isn't).
Today, it became official. In the next few months, pending certain tests and psychological evaluations, I will be put on the waiting list again for a retransplant of my heart.
To avoid crowding social media with medical updates, my family and I have decided to start up a CaringBridge online journal again. You can get the fuller story behind my retransplant there as well as get updates on future hospitalizations and, eventually, the retransplant itself.
Thank you all in advanced for your well wishes. If you would like to do something to help people like me, I encourage you to have a conversation with your families and friends about your decision to donate your organs when you pass away. Of course, please register to be an organ donor if you feel that's the right decision for you.”
All donations made to Colleen Cares this month will go to Donate Life.
You could help another family receive the gift of life.