1) Host a blood drive

Not everyone has the chance to be an organ donor,

but most people can donate blood. And heart

transplant families know exactly how important blood

can be—especially for children who have needed

blood transfusions.

As part of your celebration, get in touch with a local

blood bank. LifeSource, Red Cross, or your local

health center are all good places to start. See if they

can come out to manage the blood drive at your

event.

1) Host a blood drive (Continued)

Let people know that the celebration will include a

blood drive, so they are prepared.

Then, set goals for how much you hope to collect

and encourage friends and family to help you get

there.

2) Celebrate life, literally

The idea here is to spend your kiddo’s transplant

anniversary with the people who make that new heart

worth everything you went through waiting for it.

Invite close family and friends to a dinner party or go

to a movie together. If your child is at a fun age, host a

super hero party, as we did to celebrate our first year

as a pediatric heart transplant center. Our heart

transplant surgeons and transplant patients wore

capes; they are, after all, our heart heroes.

3) Travel far and wide

Yes, you still have a ton of daily medications and

check ups to contend with.

Which means you deserve to get away. Travel as a

family, with your heart kiddo, or even solo as a couple,

and gain some perspective. (I wrote about tips for

travel in an earlier blog post: http://ow.ly/zstJ4). Take

this opportunity to remember that the world is bigger

than the hospital rooms and doctors offices where

you’ve spent more than your fair share of time. Your

child’s new heart makes doing so possible.

4) Write to the donor’s family

Putting thoughts to paper can be very healing. You

may even surprise yourself with what comes out on

the page.

Some Facebook responders said they spent their

transplant anniversary writing letters to their donor

families, sharing updates and giving thanks. One

woman sent flowers to the mother of the donor, and

received a book of poetry from the mother on the

same day.

4) Write to the donor’s family (Continued)

Another family who lost their daughter after transplant

said they sent a message via balloon to their daughter

and their daughter’s donor. The donor’s family had

opted out of formal communications but the balloon

message still allowed the recipient family to pay tribute.

5) Release balloons or fly a kite

Balloons can represent many things, including hopes,

prayers, and thanks traveling upward beyond

ourselves.

I heard from many Facebook responders that they

released balloons on anniversaries—white for hope

and green for organ donation coming in as the most

popular options.

5) Release balloons or fly a kite

(Continued)

However, one Facebook group member pointed out

that what goes up eventually comes down. She

recommended flying kites instead of letting loose

balloons as a more environmentally conscious way to

celebrate and remember.

Stay tuned later this week for 5 more ways to celebrate your kiddo’s heart transplant anniversary.