To the Editor:
I admit that this plea for everyone to take the COVID vaccine comes from a selfish place. In 1992 my precious daughter Shay was killed in an auto/pedestrian accident. We donated her organs to save other lives. One of Shay’s gifts, her heart, went to a young woman named Bonnie. Our family subsequently met Bonnie and grew to love her. At first, my love for Bonnie came from a need to give Shay’s death some kind of positive meaning. But over the years, I have come to appreciate and love Bonnie for the person she has become, not just because a little piece of Shay kept her alive for so many years.
After the transplant, Bonnie declared that she was “living for two”—even her license plate announces this commitment and her front door is a work of art demonstrating how her life intersects with our family’s life and by extension those of others. Working diligently to raise awareness of the need for organ donations, she spent years building the non-profit Transplants for Children into an organization that helps families whose children are awaiting or have just received the gift of life. She has given me the gift of gratitude and taught me to appreciate every day as though it is my last. Of course, I am biased, but I know countless others would testify to the positive impact she has made on this world.
Now COVID poses special dangers to her because her immune system must be kept suppressed to avoid rejection. Her husband, a doctor, spent 2020 fighting to save COVID patients every day and coming home every night to a wife whose life was threatened by his commitment to his patients. This amazing couple was forced to live separate lives under the same roof, and of course Bonnie could rarely venture out.
Just when they thought their lives might return to normal, the Delta variant hit. His hospital is again inundated, this time by people who are sick because they refuse the vaccine. While Bonnie has taken the vaccine, its efficacy for her is compromised, so they are facing once again going into lockdown. Other people’s freedom to not wear a mask and to refuse the vaccine is threatening her very existence and certainly limiting her freedom.
I understand people’s insistence on their right to make their own choices and their fear of the unknown with regard to both the virus and the vaccine. But I believe the threat to people like my heart-daughter should at least encourage them to weigh the risks, and I hope to take a chance for others. Please take the vaccine, or at least wear a mask.
