Praying for Shaefer

I wanted to bring everyone up to speed on what’s been going in the Heard’s world. When I found out about Daddy’s illness about 10 years ago, my first thought was “would he make it to walk me down the aisle on my wedding day.” Well folks, he did! I couldn’t have been a more prouder daughter that day as my daddy did me the honor of giving me away. It was amazing. I also had asked him to surprise me with our father/daughter dance. The criteria was to pick a song that he felt represented our relationship. It could be funny, slow, fast, anything, but something he thought would fit us best. To be honest, I was kind of nervous. If you know my dad personally, you know he can be a jokester. Anyway, my husband and I had our first dance and then daddy met me on the dance floor. I stand and wait and just smile with apprehension of what the song will be. I then here: “I see trees of green, red roses too- I see them bloom for me and you- And I think to myself, what a wonderful world.” Yes, daddy, it has been a wonderful world, and I think you so much for all you have done for me!

Although we have had some majorly exciting events go on in our family, we are still faced with the grim reality that daddy needs a liver transplant. He is going on a regular basis to meet with the transplant team at Piedmont and is getting wonderful support and help from their staff. He continues to have to meet with psychologist to make sure his mind is prepared for such a traumatic experience, as this transplant process is and will continue to be. He also has to attend support groups at Piedmont and other informational groups to prepare himself with as much knowledge and understanding as one can possibly obtain before the transplant takes place. I would like you all to pray for my mom, Cathy, as this is life changing and stressful for her too. My dad is so lucky to have her, she has been there to support him through all of this.

As of this past week, daddy’s MELD score is still 11% and to actually be on the transplant list it must be a 20%. So he continues to prepare, as much as one can prepare, for this illness to get worse before it will get better. He tells us he’s ready to “get this thing done and over with so I can move on with my life and feel better.”

So that’s what we pray for on a daily basis, healing. We pray for his body to have the strength to withstand this transplant and to accept this new liver that will be so graciously given to him by someone we will most likely never know. We pray for the family of the donor as they will be grieving the loss of a dear loved one, as we rejoice that our loved one is well. Organ donation, as in this case, can be such a bitter sweet moment and the emotions are unimaginable. So please, as you all have done so graciously, continue to pray for daddy and the donor. May God’s warmth wrap around them both.