Words that changed my life forever: “Your child’s life will rely on medications every 12 hours. In order to put him on the transplant list we need you to sign agreeing and that you will comply," and "We have a match. Well, three matches actually.”

I signed with shaking hands and through tears, exhausted from days filled with alarms, alerts for empty IV bags, and chilling announcements of “code blue,” each one a reminder that a child’s life was hanging in the balance as I desperately clung to hope. My son could be getting a second chance at life. Giving him medications every 12 hours felt like a small price for the miracle we were being offered.

In that moment, I made a vow. If we were given this gift of life, I would protect it with everything I had.

What I didn’t know then was in the future, this very moment today, that this promise of protection would grow far beyond my son. That moment would become the beginning of a journey that would lead me to fight not just for him, but for millions of others. A fight to protect lives, and to ensure and save America’s access to safe, reliable pharmacy access.

Upon realizing, after my son's life was risked, that mail order medication temperatures are not regulated as many are forced to mail order pharmacy, that moment everything changed. My trust shattered. My heart broke. But my voice rose.

I became an advocate not because I wanted to but because I had to. Because no patient or parent should ever fear that their child’s life might be at risk by delays, interruptions in treatment, or improper temperature storage. 

I won’t stop until the system changes. I'll continue to share our story with lawmakers, media outlets, and anyone who will listen, raising awareness about temperature-sensitive medications and the risks of shipping them without proper safeguards.

I'll continue using our story to spark national conversations about patient choice of pharmacy and safe medication access. 

What started as a desperate fight to protect my son is a much broader mission. I'm thankful for this gift of life that turned pain into purpose and has changed and will continue to change policy in the process.

I'm thankful for every supporter, for every person that helps us in any way. You all make this world and this day more beautiful. 

Happy Transplant Anniversary to my son, Wesley.  

Loretta Boesing, Patient Advocate

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Loretta@uniteforsafemeds.org