Transplant Recipient Realizes Her Dream

In 2011, Arlinda Griffin had been on the transplant waiting list for nearly 3 years. Due to severe diabetes, she was nearly blind and desperately needed a kidney and pancreas transplant. When Eric Smith tragically lost his life in an automobile accident on June 12, 2011, he became a hero to Arlinda, because he was an organ and tissue donor who saved her life and the lives of several others. Eric also helped many through tissue donation.

English: Citizens Bank Park view from Pavilion Deck (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

After Arlinda received her transplant, she became friends with Eric's mom, Mary Smith. As their friendship grew, Arlinda confided in her that she had a lifelong dream of singing the national anthem at a Philadelphia Phillies baseball game. Once learning of Arlinda's dream, Mary went to work to make it happen.

On July 29th, during the Phillies' annual Gift of Life organ donation awareness night, Arlinda accomplished the dream, the goal, she had kept to herself since her childhood. After escorting Arlinda onto the field for the national anthem, Mary was in tears as Arlinda became the first organ transplant recipient to sing the national anthem at Citizens Bank Park saying, "I'm hoping that people attending the game will appreciate the value of being an organ donor."

There are approximately 117, 000 Americans currently on the transplant waiting list. One is added about every 10 minutes. Today, around 20 Americans will run out of time waiting and die leaving behind spouses, children, fiancees, parents, siblings, and friends. To break the numbers down a little further, 1 American dies about every hour to hour and a half. In my opinion, that's inexcusable when the solution to ending this needless dying is as simple as all Americans voluntarily registering as organ and tissue donors.

To learn how to register as a donor, please visit Donate Life America's website by clicking here.

It won't take but about 2 minutes of your time, so to borrow a phrase from Nike, "Just Do It!"

Read More: - see article on www.philly.com titled "Singing the Gift of Life At the Phillies Game"

Related articles:

• Hero Found: Kidney Transplant Set After Grandfather's Old-School Plea (chicago.cbslocal.com)

Thanks Chris

When I moved to Middle Tennessee in 1993, Nashville had the best rock station on the face of the planet - WKDF. It didn't matter when you listened or what song was on, it was good stuff. Their song rotation ranged from hard rock, to '70s classic rock, to southern rock, to '80s hair / glam metal, and even grunge. It was awesome. Then, one day around 1 p.m., I returned to the office from lunch and found that it was over - WKDF had switched to country. It went from awesome to totally sucking. I wanted to loose my lunch. I hate country music. It hurts my ears. It's like fingernails screeching across a chalkboard.

Chris Cornell of Soundgarden and Audioslave (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I'm sure that like everything else, it was about money, but ever since, Nashville has been without a good radio station. If you're a rocker, your choices are Jack FM or The Rock. I guess Jack is ok if you like having a song by Guns 'N Roses, Metallica, or .38 Special followed by Michael Jackson or Madonna. Yuck. I guess The Rock is ok if you want to hear The Beatles, The Clash, Rush, or Led Zeppelin every third song, but I don't. However, a critique of Nashville rock radio is not the purpose of this post.

It was on WKDF where I first heard Soundgarden and frontman Chris Cornell during the grunge explosion of the early to mid-'90s. Mixing that band and Nirvana, Stone Temple Pilots, Pearl Jam, and Alice In Chains in with the other rock genres mentioned above was the norm. In fact, nearly 5 years ago, I posted a Music Monday double shot of my two favorite Soundgarden hits - "Black Hole Sun" and "Fell On Black Days" (here). Loved those songs in the '90s and still do today. Arguably, the 2 best ballads to come out of the grunge era.

Back in May, we lost Chris Cornell. He was a talented musician. In the time since, I've read several articles surrounding his death. Some were done in good taste and some in poor. There are many who knew him well and miss him dearly, and it is my belief that the rest of us should remember Chris for the music he left us with, instead of the way he left us.

Therefore, as a memorial to Chris, today's Music Monday is Soundgarden's "Spoonman", which is about a street performer who plays spoons - not a guitar or drums, but spoons. The song's music video can be watched by clicking here and is also embedded below.

Thanks for the music, Chris.

Related articles

• LISTEN: 10 Chris Cornell songs you need to hear (rappler.com)