The Gift That Heals »

The stories in this book are about life coming out of death. A police officer, left for dead in a hail of bullets, can golf and fish again; a woman, whose lungs were at one time so diseased that she was dependent on oxygen, has since climbed 5,000 feet to the summit of Half Dome in Yosemite National Park carrying a 25-pound backpack; a man who was fighting for his life went on to become an Olympic champion.

On one side, they tell of transplanted human organs and tissue transforming lives and, on the other, the inspiring selflessness of the families who donated them at the bleakest moment of their lives.

The Gift that Heals is published jointly by United Network for Organ Sharing (www.unos.org) and the Nicholas Green Foundation (www.nicholasgreen.org). It was written by Reg Green, the father of a seven-year-old California boy, Nicholas, who was shot in an attempted robbery while the family was on vacation in Italy. The story captured the imagination of the world when he and his wife, Maggie, donated their son's organs and corneas to seven Italians.

United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) is the non-profit membership organization that administers the U.S. organ sharing system and focuses on increasing organ donation through technology, education and research. In 2001, UNOS created the National Donor Memorial (www.donormemorial.org) to celebrate and thank America's organ and tissue donors and their families.

For information on registering to become an organ and tissue donor, please go to the Donate Life America website (www.donatelife.net) or call 800-355-7427.