'Yet another soul touched by Bambi'

My mom recieved this email last week from a nurse in South Carolina.  I asked the nurse if it would be alright to share her thoughts.  She agreed.  Here is the message my mom recieved. 

~
Subject: Bambi's Story
Date: Sat, 10 Apr 2010

I am a 29 year old RN who has spent my entire (nearly 10 years now) nursing career working in critical care. Even as a child I can remember being so sure that I wanted to be an organ donor. After seeing the things I've seen.....I know this with every fiber of my being and to the deepest root of my core! And I shout it from the roof tops to ANYONE who will listen! I have been on every single side of the coin there is to imagine....care for a pt. going for organ donation, care of organ recipients, and a family member of a patient who needed an organ. In all my preaching and shouting and not understanding of decisions to not donate.....emotions ALWAYS run high. But I must tell you...It was only recently that I happened across Bambi's story. I have watched so many times....and yet, can NEVER watch without tears for that precious baby and dedicated husband. Truely a God send! I post Bambi's story onto my FaceBook page every few months. The responses are ALWAYS positive with a certain somberness. I immediately tell those people to go to the website and register with LifeShare of the Carolina's! I just wanted to say thank you so very much for sharing something so personal and moving! If I can't watch without crying it's very difficult to even begin to fathom what it must be like in your shoes. THANK YOU....thank all of you! Thank you for being bold, thank you for being honest, thank you for being enlightening, thank you for opening your pained hearts to strangers, thank you for Bambi! WHAT an AMAZING woman! The world will NEVER forget her now....thanks to your openness! I truely, just wanted to say THANK YOU!

Yet another soul touched by Bambi!

Katrina Wade RN
Charlotte, NC
~

Thank you for sharing your thoughts Katrina!  It is a blessing to know that Bambi's Stry is still out there touching people's lives and impacting communities!

Bambi Chugg Thomas Epilogue

On the Donate Life Utah! Blog, Michelle Bruno interviewed my mom, Terrie, and wrote this nice article.
Take a look at the Donate Life Blog. It has a lot of heartwarming stories from other families and events going on in Utah in the Organ Donation Community.


http://donatelifeut.wordpress.com/2009/10/06/bambi-chugg-thomas-epilogue/

Bambi Chugg Thomas Epilogue

Posted in Personal Stories by michellebruno on the October 6, 2009

Tags: Bambi Chugg Thomas, Donate Life Utah 2009, donatelifeUT09, organ donation

After seven years, Terrie Chugg still cries when she talks about her daughter Bambi Chugg Thomas. They are tears of sorrow for the loss of a daughter, a wife and a mother. A video of Bambi on the Donate Life Utah home page tells the story of a vibrant young woman, 24 years old, and about to have her first child when illness strikes and her eight-month wait for a new heart begins.

Bambi was born and raised in Roy, Utah, Terrie says. She was a 1997 graduate of Roy High School and the following year, she competed in the Miss Utah Pageant as “Miss Roy.” She was a spokes model for Standard Optical and no stranger to the camera her mom says. She married her husband Danny when they both graduated from Weber State University and became pregnant a short time later with daughter Ellie who was born on Christmas Eve the following year.

Like so many, Bambi’s story has a tragic ending. Three weeks after Ellie arrived, Bambi’s doctors told her she needed a heart transplant due to complications from the pregnancy. Despite her optimism and the artificial heart that kept her alive while she waited, the new heart never arrived and, ironically, Bambi herself became an organ donor.

The idea of the Bambi Chugg Thomas Healing Hearts Foundation came from Bambi, Terrie says. She used the foundation as a springboard to spread the word about the desperate need for organ donors. Even in her weakened condition, Bambi visited schools to tell the story of organ donation before she lost her own fight. The Standard Examiner newspaper asked to do a story about Bambi and were so smitten with her energy, they also produced the video about her that appears on the Donate Life Utah site.

Despite her family’s loss, Bambi’s legacy lives on. Besides the foundation, established in February of 2002, the video has been translated into French and German and continues to travel the world online via YouTube. Terrie believes that Bambi’s story is a poignant one. “Hers is the face of organ transplant. We were lucky because she was at the right place at the right time [to offer her own message] and had people that loved her,” Terrie says.

Bambi’s family helps to keep her memory alive through the foundation. They helped to build a monument to honor organ donors at Library Square in downtown Salt Lake City. They have supported people waiting for transplants with living expenses and paid for the funeral expenses of a little boy whose father was self-employed and couldn’t afford it. Each year at Christmas, they visit the Intermountain Medical Center and deliver baskets to families waiting for organ donations.

Terrie Chugg thinks about what Bambi would want people to know if she were here today. “Bambi herself said, ‘we’ve all carved our names in a tree, we’ve all left our mark in sand. I’m wondering what kind of mark I’ll leave.” Terrie recalls. “Being a donor is leaving your mark,” she adds.

Bambi's Story

This is a link to view Bambi's Story on YouTube. Hopefully soon I can upload it for the sidebar. Until then, you can view it here.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ni6mr2CMJQ4