A friend and colleague saw me in my office yesterday and remarked that I looked red-eyed.

“I’m emotional, but today it’s good emotion,” I told her. And it was. Over the past few days I’ve been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support and positive energy we’ve received in person, through e-mails and texts, and over Facebook, Twitter, and other channels.

We have a long road ahead of us as we help my father look for a living donor for a kidney transplant, but we’re moving in the right direction.

“I have so emotion about all of this I don’t even know what to do with it or where to put it, except to be grateful,” I told my husband today.

And so I am–grateful, humbled, and hopeful.

Thank you for spreading the word, for the words of encouragement, and for so much more.

I’d like to post about gratitude as much as I can in the days leading up to Thanksgiving. However inadequate they seem, the simple words “thank you” are a place to start.

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New to this story? My father needs a kidney, and we need some help finding a living donor. Please share his letter and if you’re on Twitter, consider using the hashtag #kidneyformike