"Confessions"

I've been writing this post over the course of the past few days...

Over the past few months, I've had several people question my judgment in being so willing to be as transparent and open about our story as we have been. Several have simply asked why, many have raised concerns, and some have even outright criticized and condemned.

There are great risks in putting out so much info, especially on the internet in this day and age (as I have written about on a few occasions). We understand the risks that we are taking, and we have certainly felt and seen some of the negative consequences of those risks (not the least of which are people criticizing us for taking risks...go figure...).

We also understand the potential for great things, and we have seen, beyond anything we could have ever imagined, this potential become reality.

Since telling you of the first TX call this past Sunday (the dry run):

I have received over 7000 comments and 400 emails (and, nearly every one has been an incredible encouragement).

The blog has averaged over 50,000 hits per day (compared to around 20,000 the past few months), and yesterday alone got over 100,000 hits (which is just mind-boggling).

Basically, all of those numbers just means that a whole lot of people were spending a whole lot of time caring about and praying for and thinking about Tricia and our families the past several days.

Since my birthday morning, you have donated over $5500 to my Personal Great Strides Goal of $10,000. My family and I are amazed at your generosity.

Since January, Tricia's Trust Fund has more than doubled, almost completely from the gifts of total strangers like you!

I have received over 500 emails and comments from people who have decided to become organ donors because of reading this blog, and I have no doubt that there may be hundreds more who have made the decision without telling me.

I have received thousands more emails of stories that I can't even begin to tell you about.

It is for these reasons and so many more that we have been so open. The blessings far outweigh the risks, both for our own family and who knows how many others. And, this is why I titles the blog "Confessions Of A CF Husband". More than anything, I'm simply looking to share the good bad and ugly (at least as much as I feel comfortable sharing) of our journey so that others who are and will go through similar journeys can and will be encouraged to know they're not alone. I often confess some very ugly, but real things (as I just did in the last post), but it is always with the hope that it will help somebody else. If you can't handle the ugly with the beautiful, you can always (quietly) get off the boat.

Thank you for taking this ride with us. Thanks, especially to those of you who have ALWAYS been encouraging and sensitive to the boundaries that we have set up. We are forever in debt.

Nathan, Tricia & Gwyneth

(PS. I've opened comments under my last post because, on second thought (ie. after just receiving an email from somebody telling me I sounded "whiny" in my posts today), I want everyone to see that I am not alone in my feelings and actions)