At age 15, Faith Carlin was diagnosed with insulin dependent diabetes. Due to complications over the years, she was placed on the list for a kidney and pancreas transplant. At 31, she received her transplanted organs from donor Douglas Shriver. "Doug's gifts of a kidney and pancreas have kept me healthy for 21 years, and I now work part-time with the National Transplantation Pregnancy Registry at Gift of Life Institute," Faith said. "These gifts have allowed me to become a wife, mother, volunteer and research coordinator with the NTPR, and to develop relationships with fellow transplant recipients and with donor family members that I cherish. For this, I am forever grateful to Doug and his family."

Faith's Story

At age 15, Faith Carlin was diagnosed with insulin dependent diabetes and began taking insulin injections daily. She married Vince Taylor, her high school sweetheart, who died from acute lymphoblastic leukemia seven years later.

The stress and heartbreak took an obvious toll on Faith, and two years later she required multiple laser surgeries on both eyes to prevent blindness. At the same time, she prepared to start dialysis due to diabetic complications.

"I never focused on how bad the future was looking and did the best with what I had each day knowing that God was in control," she affirmed. "When I received the double transplant at age 31, I had no idea what to expect and was hopeful my body would accept and do well with the amazing gifts I had been given."

Faith wrote to her donor's family and started receiving letters back from one of his sisters. A few years passed. and she eventually met most of Douglas Shriver's family – "a blessing for all of us," said Faith, who began volunteering with Gift of Life Donor Program and later worked as a kidney and pancreas transplant coordinator for the organ and tissue recovery organization.

Faith met and married her husband Alex in 1998, and they pursued having children with assistance from the National Transplantation Pregnancy Registry (NTPR). The couple now has two daughters, Elizabeth and Erin.

"Doug's gifts of a kidney and pancreas have kept me healthy for 21 years, and I now work part-time with the NTPR at Gift of Life Institute," Faith said. "These gifts have allowed me to become a wife, mother, volunteer and research coordinator with the NTPR and to develop relationships with fellow transplant recipients and with donor family members that I cherish. For this, I am forever grateful to Doug and his family.