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Opera singer voices gift of life thanks to lung transplants

Senior Health Correspondent Monica Robins met a woman who is alive thanks to two people. Now she dedicates her life to sharing her gift.

This week marked National Organ Donor day to raise awareness about organ donation and the lives it saves.

Charity Tillemann-Dick would know.

She is the recipient of not one, but two double lung transplants at Cleveland Clinic. Charity also managed to beat cancer in her salivary glands.

It's an ironic medical history considering Charity is an accomplished opera singer who has performed on stages around the world.

"We each deserve an encore we each deserve a second chance and organ donation is the ultimate second chance," Charity says.

Last fall at Cleveland Clinic's Medical Innovation Summit, Charity performed her encore with the daughter of one of her organ donors. They shared a combination of simple gifts and amazing grace.

In addition to being an opera singer, Charity is also an inspirational speaker and hopes her story inspires others.

"There is a second chance for each of us," she says. "We each have an encore we are supposed to live out. Sometimes we have multiple encores we are supposed to live out and you'll make it, you'll make it."

Charity also hopes that the recent National Organ Donor Day will serve as an inspiration as well. "We are hoping that tens of thousands and millions of people register as organ donors because it is the easiest way that you will ever save a life," she adds.

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