Book Title: A Legacy of Love: The Truth Behind Organ Donation

Book Description:

An average of eighteen patients die every day while waiting for an organ transplant.

"I think if I were a patient waiting for an organ transplant, I would hope someone would do their best to achieve two things: First, to enable surgeons to save more lives through organ transplant surgeries; second, to comfort the grieving families of donors through successful organ transplants, allowing the life of their loved one to continue in another person, turning a life that has reached its end into a blessing for someone else."

—— Traci Graf (Author)

Organ transplantation is one of the miracles of modern medicine, offering a glimmer of hope to many patients suffering from severe heart, lung, liver, or kidney diseases. However, the supply of organs suitable for transplantation falls far short of actual demand. This leaves the field of organ donation fraught with tension between supply and demand, filled with urgency and anxiety, blood and tears, as well as rumors and misconceptions; yet, it is also a realm filled with profound love and hope.

This book is a first-hand account by an American transplant coordinator. Through a series of thrilling, life-and-death stories, it reveals the truth behind organ donation, including the criteria and procedures for determining brain death, on-scene reports from organ procurement surgeries, the choices donor families face when confronting the death of a loved one, the emotional and ethical complexities involved, and the clash of traditional customs and cultures among different ethnicities... These are profound life lessons that invite us to contemplate and understand life and death more deeply.

"Unfortunately, the moment had come to fulfill her final wish and allow her to live on in another form through someone else. Her father walked up to me in front of the ICU medical staff, put his hand on my shoulder, looked straight into my eyes, and said, 'Please... take care of my daughter, and let something good come out of this tragedy.'"

—— Chapter 3, "A Young Wife's Last Wish"

"This man, who had no family, will have family in another sense after donating his organs. This new family might not know his name, nor might they know how sweet and childlike his personality was, but this new family will never forget him, and will always remember that they owe him their life."

—— Chapter 8, "Family in Another Sense"

"About ten minutes later, she looked up at me; there were no more tears in her eyes as she told me, 'You can take her now.' As she gently handed the baby girl to me, I fought hard to keep from crying out loud. I placed the baby in the cradle, turned to face this brave young mother, and went forward to embrace her, thanking her through my tears for the incredible gift she was willing to give when she herself had no hope left."

—— Chapter 11, "The Youngest Donor"

Endorsements (In alphabetical order by surname):

Yang-Jen Chiang

CEO of the Taiwan Organ Registry and Sharing Center

Deputy Director of the Organ Transplantation Center at Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital

Chang-Ming Li

Chairman of the Lung Transplantation Foundation

Professor of Surgery at National Taiwan University College of Medicine & Director of Thoracic Surgery at National Taiwan University Hospital

Chao-Long Chen

Emeritus Superintendent of Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital

Convener of the Liver Transplantation Team at Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital

About the Authors:

Author: Traci Graf

A nurse practitioner who served sixteen years as an operating room surgical technologist, a psychiatric emergency room nurse, and two and a half years as an organ transplant coordinator (TC). She currently works as a home care case manager and resides with her family on Merritt Island, Florida, USA.

This book compiles stories from Graf's work as a transplant coordinator. Her motivation for writing A Legacy of Love was to honor the remarkable individuals who choose to work toward the goal of organ donation every day, approaching their jobs with professionalism, compassion, and empathy. Graf also hopes the book will raise public awareness about the need for organ donation and help dispel widespread rumors, such as the myth that surgical trauma teams will not do their best to save patients who have agreed to donate their organs.

Translator: Tzu-En Hua

Born in Kaohsiung City in 1973. A member of the inaugural graduating class of the Department of Life Science at National Tsing Hua University, where he also completed his Ph.D. in the same department under the College of Life Science. He currently serves as a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Academia Sinica. Holding a keen interest in translation work, his extensive scientific training and vast reading of scientific literature have greatly aided his translation of popular science works. He previously translated A Dark Comedy Behind Scientific Discovery. This book marks his first venture into translating medical literature. He hopes to have the opportunity to work on other projects in the future to introduce more diverse genres of books to readers.