A life lost and a life saved!

Chris and Suzanne have been a part of our family for 17 years. We met while Chris and Ron were stationed aboard the USS Kitty Hawk CVN 63 back in 1992. Since then we have always stayed in touch with weekly phone calls and visits whenever we could. Their children call us Aunt Wendy & Uncle Ron and our children call them Aunt Suzanne & Uncle Chris. I was also asked to be Godmother to their daughter Julianne. Our lives are so intertwined with one another. When you are military and away from family, you turn your friends into your family. They support you in every way possible and you do the same for them. Chris and Suzie have been there for us through it all! Their friendship through the years has been an unbreakable bond. They have blessed our lives in so many ways! And we are better people just by knowing them.

This photo was taken in July 1993...Long Beach CA...trip to Six Flags. We were so poor in those days we shared a room together at the Navy Lodge. Mollie and Christopher shared a pack"n"play. It was so much fun and we laughed a lot!

This was at Chris and Suzanne's apartment in San Diego CA. We were so young and full of hopes and dreams for our children's future.

On January 29th 2009 Chris was killed while ticketing a man for speeding. A car hit his police cruiser and he was pinned underneath the vehicle. Suzanne and the kids will forever be changed by this horrible tragedy. Words can never describe the despair that we felt in the moment of hearing about Chris's passing! Chris was a wonderful man, who loved his family more deeply then anyone I have ever known! He had a huge heart and never met a stranger. He put us all at ease and made us smile constantly. Chris was a very devoted father, brother, son, and most of all a husband who loved his wife! He was one of a kind and will be missed for all of our days. He was a shining light in this world and it is a little darker now!

In Suzanne's darkest hour she was thinking of my family. She asked the doctor's to give Ron Chris' Kidney. And because she requested that Ron have his kidney, the Gift of Life Program notified our hospital and the Transplant Team. After they talked on the phone and had checked for blood type and other test they confirmed that there was enough of a match to have the kidney sent to our hospital. The Transplant Clinic called us to give us the news that the kidney was on it's way to us. We found places for our kids to stay overnight and Ron and I headed to the hospital to start the testing on Ron and wait for the kidney to arrive and be tested further. We then waited all day to find out the results of the testing. I was in constant contact with Suzanne, she had just been through the worst tragedy in her life, and somehow had the presence of mind to bestow the greatest gift ever given to us...It was overwhelming! It was a miracle! Chris and Ron were well on their way to being joined together. I cannot tell you how emotional it was waiting...as each hour slipped by with no word if the kidney was a complete match. Finally at 2:55 pm on Friday the 30th a nurse came rushing in the door to say the transplant team was coming to get Ron....Chris' Kidney was a match! I quick grabbed my phone...hit the video record button and Ron said a few words to Suzanne and then we threw our arms around him, hugged and kissed him, then watched him rolled down the hall and out of sight.

Ron and Chris forever joined!

Ron did excellent in surgery. When they rolled him back into the room at 8:30 that night he looked really good! He was alert and the first thing he said to me was "I pee'ed"...it was so emotional! We hugged and kissed on him and then I called Suzanne, so Ron could speak to her! It was the most amazing thing I have ever experienced. Suzanne is a true life saver in every sense of the word! She and her kids will always be our family!
It's now three weeks later and Ron was just released from the hospital again. He is feeling better but has a long road ahead of him to make a full recovery. He is still doing Plasma transfusions and will have another Kidney Biopsy on Wednesday. But we are so full of faith that it's going to be okay. It could not have happened this way for it not to work!

We are still struggling with wrapping our heads around why Chris was taken from his family! I think we will always be asking that question! It hurts in a way I have never know! But when I look at Ron and see him working desperately to heal and make this Kidney Transplant a success story, I know in my heart Chris' memory will live on forever through the eyes of his wife, children, family, friends, and Ron! We are so grateful to Suzanne, she has given us the gift of life, we will forever be her family!