October 2006 Ensign - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

INSET PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF THE SABIN FAMILY
moment in my life that will stay just crystal
clear, and that is the moment that we
walked into the hospital room to see Jenny
after the surgery.”
Jim Davies agrees: “Looking through the
glass at Jennifer, smiling and sitting up in a
chair—well, it was an unbelievable feeling.”
“I wasn’t prepared for how we would
feel,” Becky Davies adds. “The Spirit was so powerful.”
“We all just wept,” Debbie Bullick says, “for we knew
we were standing on holy ground.”
In an e-mail to family and friends, Jenny’s brother Spencer
wrote: “The nurses brought up Jennifer’s latest X-ray of her
lungs on a computer monitor and the donors got pictures,
each of them pointing to their lobe on the screen. They were
able to see how great their lobes fit Jennifer and how healthy
they are. Of course, it was emotional.”
The Breath of Life
For nearly a week Jennifer’s system struggled to accept
the foreign tissue that had been grafted into her body. There
were many ups and downs, but finally the time came when
doctors removed the breathing tube, allowing her to breathe
on her own for the first time.
Later, Jennifer recorded the experience in her journal:
“Mom and Dad came in the room, and Mom asked me
how it felt. I took a deep breath, something I hadn’t
been able to do in a long, long time, and began weeping.
I was crying, not so much because of what it felt like
right then, but because of the complete
realization of what that feeling
meant. It meant that cystic
fibrosis was forever gone from my
new lungs and that I was going to
live. I simply felt relieved, grateful
and incredibly, incredibly overcome
with joy. As I began to cry, so did
everyone else—my family and the entire medical staff.”
Top: Becky and Jim Davies,
Jennifer Sabin, and Graham and
Debbie Bullick are happy to be a
part of their “ward family” in
Poway, California. Bottom: Jenny
recovering from her surgery of
November 29, 1999.
The Gift of Life
Today, nearly seven years later, Jennifer is full of health
and vitality.
Both Jim Davies and Graham Bullick feel that they
gained more than they gave. Jim says, “I’ve heard it said
before that only a life lived for others is a life worth living,
and I really believe that is true.”
Bishop Bullick agrees, “If you need or desire a tremendous
purpose for your life, an opportunity to feel like
you’ve really contributed to life, take it, because there is
really no way to describe the feeling that you have.”
Jennifer recently spoke at a fundraiser for cystic fibrosis
and paid tribute to these two members of her ward family:
“My donors saved my life; they embody the true definition
of heroes. Every joy I experience in this life, every new discovery,
every smile, every hope for the future, simply every
moment, I owe to them. I am forever indebted, forever
grateful, forever humbled, forever in awe, and forever
inspired by their amazing sacrifice.” ■
ENSIGN OCTOBER 2006 23