Fondly Remembering

Fresca-have you ever tried it? I haven’t, but that one little word and bottle of soda always brings back a flood of memories. Isn’t it funny how certain things trigger memories? For me, Fresca reminds me of my brother’s heart donor.

If I think back to August of 1999, it was day 5 post-op from my brother’s heart transplant. The days following the procedure had not gone smoothly and each day brought with it many difficulties and challenges (and, not to mention, another brother was getting married in just 3 short days, needless to say, a crazy time!). My mom and I were on night duty, staying with my brother until about midnight. He was still in the ICU and to date, hadn’t received any nutrition since the surgery. He was, let’s say, a bit irritable. As we were leaving, he asked if we would bring him some Fresca when we returned. An odd choice, as he had never had Fresca, but we weren’t going to rock the boat and agreed to bring it with us. That’s how mom and I ended up at the grocery store around 12:30 on a hot August night looking for Fresca. We found it, went home, slept a few hours and were up and back at the hospital by 8:00 AM.

Since we weren’t sure if he was allowed the Fresca, we innocently left it in the waiting room while we went to say good morning and check with his nurse on if we could give him a drink. We entered his room and were met with a flurry of expletives inquiring as to where the Fresca was and letting us know he really didn’t want us in his room if we didn’t have the Fresca. We were then informed in another expletive laced tirade that we were to get the Fresca pronto. After receiving the green light from his nurse to give it to him, we brought it in and gave him a drink. After one sip he said, “This is terrible! I don’t want this!” We were flummoxed. Why had he asked for Fresca? The only thing we could think of is that his heart donor must have liked Fresca. It was so random and such and odd request, we can’t think of any other good reason why, of all things, 5 days after surgery he was asking for Fresca.

And so, to this day, when I hear or see Fresca, I think of our heart donor. April is organ and tissue donation awareness month. Please spend a few minutes thinking about what the right decision is for you if the unthinkable were to happen. Communicate your wishes with your loved ones. And enjoy a glass of Fresca for me. I won’t drink it, but it will always bring a smile to my face and remind me of the donor.