SOUL DONOR
A True Story of Spiritual Transformation After a Tissue Transplant
An Excerpt from the Foreword…
I was zooming down the ski slopes of Heavenly Mountain in Lake Tahoe when I heard a loud pop, and the next thing I knew, I was in surgery getting donor tissue transplanted into my knee. Little did I know that these cells just pulled from the body of a fifteen-year-old girl would have a profound effect on not just my future ability to walk, ski, and dance, but on the entire way I viewed the world.
As the process of regeneration began, my healing became more than just learning to walk again. Having considered myself relatively fearless throughout my life, the accident left me feeling shocked, vulnerable, and broken. Not only did my donor’s tissue have a physical impact, but her innocence and fervor–characteristics I had hidden away long ago–also came through me with great intensity, and instilled a new sense of purpose.
What I discovered is that the donor cells that are put into someone else’s body are not just simply there to heal the recipient’s injury or disease. These cells are a microcosm full of the essence of the person they come from, and link the donor and recipient together in a way that is far greater than the sum of the parts.
My donor has shared a living legacy that helps us remember our humanity and our connection to each other.
Skiing for the first time again two years after my accident gave me a sense of completion about this unusual journey and the power of this connection. Remembering that she had taken the greatest passage of all, her courage and healing tissue motivated me back down the mountain with new-found respect for the odyssey of the soul.
Deeply inspired by my transplant recipient experience, I have returned to my girlhood roots in writing, research, and the healing arts. So that others may understand their ability to heal many lives, I have dedicated myself to the advocacy of tissue donation.
I believe that all phases of our journey are important and that nothing is ever wasted. It is a philosophy that encourages others to integrate all of their experiences, and to become the visionary or revisionary of their own life. What emerges just may be a beautiful surprise.
Kelly Boyette
Northern California
