Charlotte (Charlie) and Brian Gilbert are two of the most fun people I have met through the domain industry. They are hilarious, kind, and pretty much the type of people you want to be around if you want to ensure that you are going to have a fun time.
For quite some time, Charlie has been battling Pulmonary Hypertension, which has been worsening. Brian wrote an extensive article about Charlie and her fight on his blog, BrianGilbert.com. You can have a look at that to see what Charlie and Brian have been going through.
For several months, Charlie has been at Duke University working hard to become eligible for a heart and lung transplant. Charlie qualified for the list and has been awaiting the double transplant. In order for this to work, Charlie needs the heart and lungs to come from the same donor. There have been a couple of false starts where Charlie’s doctors thought she was going to get her double transplant, but those did not work out.
This afternoon, Brian announced “It’s a Go!” Charlie is currently undergoing a double organ transplant. I don’t know how long Charlie will be in surgery, but I know that she and Brian can use all of the positive thoughts and prayers we can muster. Once Charlie’s surgery is successful, she is going to have a long recovery. Charlie is strong and strong willed, and I know she is going to overcome this and thrive.
In addition to positive thoughts and prayers, one thing we can all think about doing is becoming an organ donor to help people like Charlie. Without the organ donor who made the ultimate gift, we wouldn’t have Charlie in our lives. Let’s keep that person and their family in our thoughts, too.
Here’s to a swift and full recovery for Charlie. Please keep her and Brian in your thoughts and prayers now and in the coming days.
I love that you wrote about Charlie and her journey! She’s a fighter! She can do this! Brian is a superhero! I am especially happy that you talked about becoming a donor! It’s the one time you can give away something you don’t need and change and save a life!
Charlie is the best in the business. Thank you for sharing her story. She and her husband Brian are long-time domainers and the kindest and friendliest folks that you could ever meet. They are dear friends and we love them so much. We are praying hard for her here and can’t wait to hear what a great success the transplant was today. Thanks Elliot.
Wonderful post, Elliot. I’m so happy they found a match! I’m sending positive thoughts and prayers to Charlie and Brian for a smooth recovery!
Positive thoughts and prayers and alll best for a successsfull recovery.
Wishing you a successful surgery and and quick recovery.
Ellliot….thanks for sharing this. A local peer and friend of mine Macon Brock, one of the founders of Dollar Tree (symbol DLTR) had a double lung transplant at the Cleveland Clinic back in 2014. Prior to the transplant he was given just months to live, but the transplant bought him another good three years allowing him to author the book “One Buck at a Time” that’s on my desk as i type/key this.
Macon is without question one of my business heroes in that he and his brother-in-law Doug Perry started with just one Dollar Tree employing 10 people in the eighties. Today they have over 15,000 stores with tens of thousands of employees and a market cap of over 20 Billion dollars…..and that’s selling “everything” for a buck!
Before Macon died he and his wife donated $2 Million dollars to the Cleveland Clinic. Here’s a story about Macons and Joans philanthropy http://www.virginiabusiness.com/reports/article/the-epitome-of-philanthropy
My prayers go out to Charlie and Brian and maybe I’ll have an opportunity to meet them someday.
Happy New Year to you Elliot, and I hope to meet you in Vegas.
Richard aka ThatNameGuy™
my prayers also for charlie and brian
@richard aka that name guy(tm)
i own organdonate.com/.org – looking for a domain impact appreciative party to help develop – so can provide much boost to ‘traditional’ organ donate programs run by non profit govt contractor – which has been criticized for inefficiency
please contact me to discuss if interested in helping, perhaps widow of dollar stores founder? other parties may be interested in supporting a smart private effort