“I kind of went in there thinking, I’ve got something really precious that belongs to someone else. And like, it’s going be really sad for her. She’s going to be really emotional and thinking about her daughter who’s not here and my daughter’s here,” Yong said. “But it wasn’t like that at all.”
“When I first met her … I just wanted to hug Elaine,” Hill said. “I felt connected immediately knowing that another mother got to raise their child. And that’s what gave me so much happiness.”
Advocating for others
Hill, now 33, said their initial meeting went well because she’d made peace with Audrey’s death, and she now shares her story to encourage others to consider donating organs at advocacy events.
Yong is now 50. She said she was touched by the meeting and it inspired her to become an even stronger advocate for organ donation. In fact, she left a job in journalism to become a communications manager at her local organ donor organization, BC Transplant.
The two moms say they communicate a few times a year and sometimes speak at conferences together about their transplant experience with Audrey and Addison.
They consider each other to be family, which now includes Hill’s two children and Addison’s younger sister. Addison refers to Hill as “Auntie Felicia” and sends her medals that she wins in track and swimming competitions. In 2018, Hill traveled to Vancouver to cheer on Addison in an event designed for transplant athletes, called the Canadian Transplant Games.
At the end of April, both families will celebrate Audrey’s birthday. She would have been 14 on April 30. And Hill plans to be in the stands when Addison competes in the World Transplant Games in Dresden, Germany, this summer.
“It’s just really amazing to see that she (Addison) gets to live her life, and she is her own person,” Hill said.
“I like to say organ donation is like the ultimate act of love,” Yong said. “This is like this most amazing gift that you don’t know where it came from when you’re giving it … you have no control over who it goes to, and you also have no idea what happens to it afterwards.”
If you’re interested in becoming an organ donor, you can register at your local department of motor vehicles, or DMV, or online at organdonor.gov.
If you’re an organ donor looking to connect with your transplant recipient or vice versa, your transplant center may be able to help.
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