10/22/2012
By Charles Payne

More Articles by Charles Payne

Fanciful Facades?

I'm not on vacation.  I've been out a lot lately for a family emergency that has become the most amazing story.  On Wednesday October 10th, I received an email from a friend and mentor saying his twenty year old daughter was dead and he wished my wife could receive her heart.  I was actually hosting Varney & Co on Fox Business, so I forwarded the email to my wife.  They went back and forth and discovered there could be a match.  As the day unfolded, hope faded into despair as bureaucrats in Los Angeles and New York gave a litany of reasons of why my wife couldn't get this potential gift of life.  How ironic, I'm always railing against government intrusion into our lives, and I get the most vivid example of how dangerous it can be.

For a moment we thought my wife's decades of suffering, scores of operations including a receiving a heart pump just three months ago, would finally come to a final chapter. But the heart program representatives spent a lot of time giving lame excuses.  This is when I took to Twitter.  I'm very private about many aspects of my life and few people knew the degree of danger my wife was in as each week saw challenges from her new device.  She was racing against the clock ... so I looked for help anywhere I could find it.  Most replies were positive thoughts and prayers and there is no doubt they helped but nobody knew how to get around the red tape.

The next day as I was driving home my wife called, sobbing, she just got the call—we could go to Los Angeles and get the heart.

At some point we'll find out what happened exactly, but for the moment, she is recovering swiftly as the heart was a "perfect match."

There are a million subplots to this whole thing from the power of prayer to drawing a line where the government should stand between people doing transactions with each other.  There is also the story of this remarkable young woman, who one day I hope I can tell the world about.  At 20, to be wise enough to give the gift of life even in death is incredible.  But she was that kind of person.  I attended her funeral and was overwhelmed by her accomplishments and the many lives she touched.  Rarely have I wept so much.

I'm writing this to let subscribers know I'm going to be back 100% on the grind by the end of the week, but more importantly, to ask everyone to consider organ donations.  I have been selfish enough to not want to give up my organs in death even as my goal is to get into heaven leaving my corpse behind.  We can never repay my friend who I suspect fought behind the scenes for this to happen as he and his wife are determined folks. All I can do is ask everyone to consider organ donation and kiss their children every day.  I'm searching for various options, but here's one website to consider http://donatelife.net/.

Charles Payne
Wall Street Strategies