Sam left this world over three days. The accident that took his life occurred on the Nov 20, on the 21st we learned beyond doubt that our son would not live. We made the very hard.. but the only decision we could .. which was to enable  Sam to donate his strong organs to save others. From the 20th through the 21st the transplant team at Clearwater searched to match  Sam’s organs up with recipients.. It was an amazing process to watch even through our shock and grief. 

By the 22nd, sam’s heart, liver and both kidneys had been matched. His corneas went to research. on the morning of the 22nd, they wheeled Sam into the operating room. That  moment was so very hard.. ..I  usually  block it from my memory..  reliving it now has me melting down in tears as  I write. 

As tough as it was.. that day.. one of the worst of my life, was one of the best days for four other families.. and for that I’m forever grateful . 

The main thing I learned through the experience of organ donation is that that main thing that matters is that your family knows your wishes.   Organ donation is not for everyone..   soem people don’t liek through thought. for others its counter to religious beliefs.. thats all OK.. what matters is that your family knows what you would want.. In our case, we new our Sam.. strong, always willing to help… we knew he’d want to be a donor..

Please take a moment right now.. and talk to your loved ones.. and let them know what your wishes would be if G-d forbid this ever happens in your life.. 

And then hug them.. really. really hard and tell them how much you love them… and tyell them tanks for Sam

nite all, nite sam

-me

 

 

Just sitting down after a day long celebration for Sam.. Thought yesterday is the day of the accident, Today is the day we mark his death.  I woke up thinking about Sam.. I thought about him all day.. I often do.. today we had many others to share our memories of this great kid.. 

 

here’s one of my favorite pics of Sam it was at Camp Abenaki during ‘Priate Day’.. Sam was acting out Tenacious D’s ‘Wonder boy’ 

our good freind Coco painted that picture for us 

 

 

our celebration for Sam began at 1 up at bolton about 20 friends and 4 dogs joined us for a quick walk up the mountian.. There was nearly a foot of snow already on top .. though the air tem p was in the high 40’s 

 

we brought chai and satori.. Chai is 14 years old.. satori is 10 .. both  did the hike just fine. 

 

it was a beutiful day.. before I knew it we were up at the top.. took less than an hour. 

 

we stopped at the hut and shared red bull, moonshine..gorp..

\

 

next stop was the fire tower for max, gabe and i .. we always go up and fire off soem fireworks for sam. \

 

we got down around 4.. and headed back to the house. People started showing up around then 

 

kasey !

eventually we had about 50 people show up for Sam

 

we passed out red bull for a toast.. sam loved(!!!!) redbull 

 

Food was great.. even spiders and cheese !

 

out came quitars and a fiddle.. here are max and rusty 

 

then jane got out rusty’s fiddle 

 

the house was mostly cleared out by about 11 PM.. thats 10 hours after we began

 

there were lots of  sam stoires.. much more laughter than tears. 

 

what a wonderful way to remember a wonderful kid

 

We miss you my son.. your friends are still very much in our lives..

we all love you..

nite all, nite sam

-me

 

I’m sitting in the exact spot that we were standing 11 years ago tonight that Sam was not going to live.  A few hours earlier sam and his friends Parker and Eric had been out scootering while on vacation in Tampa…  a car swerved to avoid Eric and hit Sam. He was taken to the hospital as we got the call that he’d been injured. Somehow  we managed to  call billy, he called the doctors  at Clearwater hospital and got the news. He called to tell us.. it must have been so hard for hm to do.. I will always appreciate that it was him 

Diane and I were standing in this exact spot….  I can still feel how unreal it seemed.. 

it seems so unreal even now.

Earlier that day Sam had called and left a message for me about his trip. He was having so much fun.. I listened to the message again today.. as I have every year since..  You can hear it here.. 

Last phone message from Sam   

I miss him so much every day.. now the feeling is not so sharp. it’s like an ache.. but sweet with memories. What a great, great  kid..   

I miss you my son. We will always love you. 

These are hard stories to mix.. but I need to share something else

This morning  I learned that my cousin Leslie’s daughter Rachel died 2 days agao. Rachel was 26 and had a 3 yer old daughter Kennedy. I spoke with Leslie and her husband Brett for a while  today.. I’ so sad for them.. I didn’t know what to say to them today.

I know that there’s nothing really to say.. I wish them peace

I wish us all peace. 

nite all, nite sam

-me

1 am and just got home. We visited my sister , her family and my mom this weekend in Minneapolis .. nice visit. We caught a flight home around 11AM.. we landed inNewark about 3 t find that our flight to Albany had been canceled due to air traffic control. .. >. The next flight to Albany was not until tomorrow. We’d decided to fly in and out of there  because we got a good deal using frequent flyer miles..  We decided to rent a car and drive back … while we were waiting for our bags (which took an hour) we ran into a family from Houston that had been booked on the same canceled flight… so we offered to give them a ride.. Maria, Sonia and Katharina.. really nice talking to them on the ride up. .. We dropped them in Albany, returned the rental car , picked up our car and grabbed some chinese food then drove the last 3 hours. All in all it was about 6 hours of driving and 2 hours of flying.. ugh

Glad  to be home …

The next couple of days are tough for us.. We will make the 11th anniversary of Sam’s passing on Tuesday.  Still so  hard to believe he’s not here. 

Please join us on Tuesday  to remember Sam. we’ll all meet to hike Bolton  a 1PM .. then all meet back here at 6PM for a potluck . https://www.facebook.com/events/171000990151715/

nite all, nite sam

-me