Donate Life Hollywood Inspire Awards

You know the other night Kevin and I had the opportunity to attend the Donate Life Hollywood Inspire Awards. (Thank you Cedars Sinai for the invite) This was an evening of celebrating the Writers & Producers that have portrayed organ transplantation/donation in a positive light. They were the ones receiving the "Inspire Award." The list of Writers & Producers from this year's Donate Life Hollywood Inspire Award winners were:

Boston Med	Season finale featuring Joseph Helfgot
Desperate Housewives	Susan's kidney storyline
Entourage	“Buzzed”
ESPN's E:60	“The Gift”
Family Guy	“New Kidney in Town”
General Hospital	Jake's organ donation
Glee	“Special Education”
Grey's Anatomy	“These Arms of Mine”
The Ellen DeGeneres Show	Tara Storch Interview
The Nate Berkus Show	The Ogbuji Family
The NFL Today	Chris Henry Feature
The 5th Quarter	Independent Film

Maybe looking at that list you've probably seen one of the episodes or if we're friends on Facebook, you may have seen the one I shared from The Ellen DeGeneres Show's Tara Storch Interview. Either way, all are, in my opinion, stories of hope.

Now, Kevin and I decided to go because naturally we support Donate Life and we've got twin 4 yr olds... a sitter was available so we jumped on the chance to have an evening out. We didn't really have any idea of what was going to happen during the evening other than people getting these awards. Upon walking towards the Avalon Theater we notice lots of people, cameras, and a red carpet. How exciting! We had the option to walk the red carpet but we chose not. (I'm thinking maybe he wants to walk a red carpet when he's nominated for an Emmy, Golden Globe, or Oscar) We go inside and settle into our surroundings, get a drink, mingle a bit, talked with a few people, we sit down, and the awards ceremony begins...

In the back of my head I was wondering why there were tissues on every table.... within ten minutes I would soon learn why....

me & my LVAD'er...on the red carpet afterwards.
 no lights, no camera, no action. just us.

The people presenting the awards were the actual people the storyline was based on, the donor recipients..... or they were the actual donor family.  Every story was touching.... inspiring.... we saw clips from the films, the television shows, & slide shows of the donor that was able to give life to someone else. I absolutely recommend you visit the www.donatelifehollywood.org and watch the films, the clips..... and while you're there why not register to be an organ donor?

You know if you're reading this and you're living with an LVAD, whether you're the caregiver or the LVAD'er, take a few minutes and visit the website or don't visit the website. BUT know that my spirits were lifted. To be there that night was for sure powerful... just being in the presence of so many inspiring families & people. I'm hoping it'll lift your spirits by watching or reading about the stories.

You should also know that it gave me more hope. It reminded me that our current situation is indeed temporary. That call for a new heart will come when the time is right......and when it does, you'll know because I'll be jumping for joy at the same time crying out of thanks to our donor family.

It's called hope people. It's called believing it will happen.

Where there is a will, there is a way.