Modern War Heroes

I just ran across this beautiful article. It is written by a woman who has had massive kidney problems for years. As the disease progressed, she eventually had to be put on dialysis due to her kidneys failing.  One of the things she did to keep her spirits up was to volunteer with Books for Soldiers, an organization dedicated to donating and shipping books to soldiers around the world. She would even write letters and slip them into the books she was shipping.

One soldiers request for “The Eddas” peaked her curiosity, as she had never heard of this book before. She didn’t send this book, but in her letter asked about it. This small incident sparked a friendship. Both would write back and forth to each other, learning about the other’s life.

The soldier (his first name is Dennis) returned from Iraq, and about a month later went to visit this woman. Soon after she received an email from Dennis offering her one of his kidneys. She had received offers before from well meaning friends, without follow through, so she was cautious. But after deliberation, Dennis went through with his amazingly generous gift.

This was in 2005, and she proclaims herself healthy thanks to Dennis. He is currently deployed and continues to help with the Books for Soldiers charity. Dennis  shows us that heroes are found anywhere, and they certainly can be found here at home as well as out on the front lines.