Death do us Part

Mark sat back down on the opposite bed. "Kate, you are right and you are wrong. For one thing, Anthony was not going to be your husband." He patted the divorce papers in his pocket. "However, you are correct I could not just switch the donation of Anthony's organs on my own say so. I needed approval of the hospital." Mark then made a motion to the other side of my bed.

"Hello Kate, how are you feeling?"

I heard a female voice and turned my head to see Mary Beth, my sister-in-law, the older sister of Anthony, standing by my bed. I had not even heard her come into the room.

Mary Beth stroked my hair while reaching over to touch a dial on one of my IV lines. "I do not know if you remember Kate, but I am head administrator at the hospital here."

I vaguely recalled going to a party with Anthony to celebrate Mary Beth's promotion. Something about the first nurse to work her way up the ranks to the top spot at a major hospital.

"You see Kate; I could not believe you would do something like that to my baby brother. I was shocked as I knew Anthony worshiped the ground you walked on. This divorce and cheating would just kill him. But no worries Kate, Anthony will never find out. Only Mark and I know about this. But you will be glad to know Anthony's kidney went to a worthy person, a young mother of four. She has been on the transplant list for a while. Her husband was already in Anthony's room with their children trying to thank him. It was very touching. The liver portion went to an ailing Vietnam Veteran. It's great the country can repay his service." I saw Mary Beth spin the dial on the regulator leading to my pain medicine.

Next I heard Marks voice, but I could not get up the energy to turn my head. "Sadly Kate, it seems there were some minor complications with the transplant related to Anthony. He is in a medically induced coma. By the time he wakes up you will have passed away. I am sure he will be sad, but as you noted before Kim, the 'chink' you thought Anthony was 'banging', she will relish the chance to fill the void in Anthony's lonely life."

"Trey," I managed to croak out. "Trey knows, Trey my soul mate will tell."

Mary Beth pressed some buttons on my monitor. "Afraid not Kate, it seems your lover boy, Trey, was unlucky and DOA by the time the paramedics got to his place. My brother the cop has some influence at Metro PD. You were never at the scene, at least officially. Your death will just be one of those tragic events that no one could have foreseen."

"No, No, NO." I tried to speak, but could barely hear my own voice.

"Well not too tragic Kate." Mary Beth continued. "Some good will come out of this event. I saw you have an organ donor card stuck on the back of your Drivers license.'

"I do not!" I managed to squeak out

"Well you do now Kate." I heard Marks voice thru a fog. "Look at it this way. It's a win-win all around. Even if you had gotten Anthony's kidney and a portion of his liver, your heart would not have made it to the end of the week. If a heart could have been found, not much of a chance you would have survived the surgery. This way Anthony saved two lives and you have a chance to save some lives also."

"Yes Kate." I recognized Mary Beth's voice as if thru a tunnel. "While your kidneys, liver and heart are shot, some other organs are still useable. We have recipients lined up for your lungs, corneas, bone marrow, a bunch of your other useable organs, even your skin tissue as soon as you depart. Seeing as you like to have others play with your body so much we are going to donate the rest of you for medical students to use."

I tried to speak but no words came out.

The last thing I heard was Mark talking. "Now Kate, I know how much being happy means to you, so you are going get the wish you talked so much about. You and your soul mate Trey get to now be together forever. I hope you both enjoy rotting in hell."

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Truth is stranger then fiction. This story is based on an event told to me by an old time Transplant Team Nurse. She had witnessed parents stop their sons organ donation to the wife/daughter-in-law (sudden car accident) in mid surgery when a process server appeared at the hospital (son/husbands place of work) trying to serve the son/husband divorce papers.