Gifts weren't important to this boy.

Only time was. Because he was running out of it.

Just shy of Christmas 2000, Adam had already been living at the Ohio University Medical Center for seven months.

The 17-year-old suffered from familial cardiomyopathy, a condition that severely enlarges the heart.

Adam was too weak to play on the golf team anymore. He was too weak to attend his senior year of high school. He was too weak to ever leave the hospital.

So the small, pink room - an hour from home - was where he stayed.

And hoped.

And waited for a new heart.

Like Adam, there are 282 people in Greater Cincinnati waiting for organs. This includes kidney (181), heart (25), liver (41), kidney/pancreas (7), and a number of pancreas, small intestine and pancreas islets. They all rely on the generosity of a stranger to save them.

LifeCenter is the local organ procurement organization that identifies potential donors, talks to donor families and coordinates the recovery of the organ. They're the go-between for the person giving up an organ and the person waiting for one.

The process is an exact one. Potential recipients are identified through United Network for Organ Sharing. There is no No. 1 position on the waiting list for an organ, only a 1A status for people who have a more urgent medical need.

When an organ becomes available, LifeCenter coordinators scour the network data for 1A patients in this region. They try to find the most compatible match using factors including blood type, age, height and weight.

When a potential match is made, the donor coordinator contacts the transplant surgeon/center. If the organ is accepted, arrangements are made to transport the organ to the transplant team.

They don't have long - there's a window of just 12 hours for a liver and 24 to 48 hours for a kidney. A heart or lung has just four hours.

LifeCenter had just 39 organ donors in 2002.

Maybe some people don't know that someone who donates all organs and tissues can give 35 to 50 individuals a new life. Maybe they don't realize about 17 people on the national waiting list die each day waiting for a vital organ.

I've always had the little organ donation sticker on my driver's license, but I never thought much about it. And then I met Adam.

I saw a young man in limbo, studying the clock, waiting for his chance to live. I saw his body weaken and his hope disappear.

And then, I was there the night he received his transplant. I watched as the faulty organ was removed and replaced with a beautiful, brilliant muscle. I witnessed rebirth.

I knew that somewhere, another young man had died. But his family had enough love and courage to give a piece of their son to save someone else. Their loss became life again.

At 21, Adam continues to have the heart of a stranger beating in his chest. He is now a healthy Ohio State sophomore, as well as a vocal advocate of organ donation.

And he has learned that the best gift doesn't always come in fancy wrapping paper.

Sometimes it arrives in a red Rubbermaid cooler.

LifeCenter can be reached at 513-558-5555 or www.lifecnt.org.

E-mail mdowns@enquirer.com