bravery: the real deal

I have a thing about people being called heroes undeservedly. It's a tag that seems to be bandied about without any real thought, except perhaps when we're talking about a war or a natural disaster. You see heroics everywhere then don't you? People putting their own lives on the line for others. Sportsmen get called heroes all the time in this country. Sportsmen are not heroes people. Role models maybe, heroes no. Celebrities are not heroic...well some of them might be, but I seriously doubt it. That's what I think anyway! 
I believe that heroism and real bravery are about sacrifice and giving; often about everyday people doing extraordinary things and you don't bump up against it all that often...well not in my experience. 
But in my circle of volleyball friends there is one very brave woman; a heroine by my definition. Someone who is making a real sacrifice, though I suspect she wouldn't describe it that way. Denise is giving up one of her kidneys for her brother today in a hospital in Adelaide. She is, by her own admission, an intensely private person, but she said it was ok for me to write about this as long as it was about promoting organ donation...and it is organ donation week after all. So please take some time to think about this. There's a good website Donate Life with loads of information. And if you're not on the register, please think about that as well. If you want information about live kidney donor transplants there is information here. Apparently at least 30 percent of willing, and otherwise appropriate kidney donor-recipient pairs are incompatible, and currently can't proceed to live donor transplantation. Thankfully this is not the case for Denise and her brother. 
So Denise, you heroine (oh yes you are!), here's blessings to you both xx