A message from the Team Manager: My transplant story is cathartic. 9-11-2002 was my 20 week ultrasound for my first baby. I was so naive throughout the ultrasound tech’s reaction, the immediate doctor’s appointment scheduled for the next day, learning what an neonatologist was, going to the appointment alone, and then getting, within 5 minutes of being with the doctor, a fatal diagnosis. I’d simply drink more water for a week. But after a week, and some more questions answered it was clear the baby had no kidneys, hardly any amniotic fluid, and had no chance of lung development. Cue a medical termination for a very wanted child and years and years of not knowing where to put that grief. We welcomed two very wonderful children. We started a farm raising the most difficult of all livestock, sheep. I became a firefighter to help others on their worst days. Time marched on.
Until one day, I learned of living donation and the chance to make some good of all I carried.
My other kidney saved a life and changed the projectory of a family. If you had met Babe Feist, he would have knocked it out of the park!
The pace was fast -decided in June- and donated in August 2022! I found my recipient through a Facebook post by his dad after searching for info about the Vanderbuilt Transplant Center. I asked if I could test on Alex’s behalf and then kept messaging his family steps along the way, saying I am sure it would work out. (They checked me out to see if I was just some crazy person). We were a match and compatible! The similarities between our families are numerous- we all took these as "God signs"- Alex's major is the same as my daughter's two aerospace engineers; he is so very close in age to what our son would have been. His parents promised a kidney for his 21st birthday and found it. Alex was holding on and putting off dialysis. We met and talked for hours during pre-op testing. He had already started his Junior year in college and made up what he missed- then continued on as if it was no big deal!!! Clearly this kidney was grown for him. It has shifted my grief so much as well.
The Transplant Games is so much more than the sports, the amazing athletes, and the amazing stories of transplantion. It’s a chance for advocacy and changing modern medicine to bring more organs from living and valued deceased donors into play. It is possible to accept older donors - let’s get that changed. It is possible to provide more legislative support for living donor leaves and tax incentives- let’s get that changed, too. Please stand with me for change to save lives!
In addition to managing the team, my events are the 5K and the virtual triathlon (1500m run, 20km cycling, 200 yd freestyle), shotput and discus.
