The 2010 U.S. Transplant Games are over, but many of us will be sorting through them for a while to come… I know that I need to do a few posts about them – so I’ll start here. I had an amazing time and connected with many old friends, and made many new friends… There were almost a dozen people who, after introducing myself, they told me they read our blog – which meant an awful lot to me (thank you!!!). Particularly since I’ve been sorely lacking in the past year, and hopefully they’ll inspire me to get back here and post on a regular basis…
I think they knew how much it meant to me after seeing me in my Team Illinois garb with my Hawkeye cap all week; a few of my favorite Iowans gave me their Team Iowa shirts and a cap. And as we all were getting ready to leave – in the local Starbucks, one precious woman confronted me and said, “I know you have Iowa lungs, but you need to stop wearing THAT everywhere and start wearing Iowa State!!!” When I hugged her, I assured her that I would expand my Cyclone and Panther attire.
Anyhoo – I’m going to start with a few random meetings, that sometimes don’t seem so random – that sometimes seem like there was a nudge from somewhere in the universe that makes things happen...
My friend Annie was there with her family – her son, JR, and his band performed the closing number at the donor recognition ceremony this year… But before that, we wandered up to the swim to see a Michigan person we care about… Walking through Madison, we saw a little family with a black cocker spaniel – it was a good dog fix for Annie since her pups were at home in Illinois… And we all started chatting…
The man was a liver recipient – he was around 9 months post-transplant, so was not qualified to participate in the Games as his center let him know he had to be a year out. He was transplanted in Madison, but was raised in Rockford, Illinois… Talk went to what high school, then graduation year – it turned out that the man was in Jay’s class and remembers him as “the tall guy with the wonderful sense of humor…”
I think it was pretty neat to have Annie come to Madison to celebrate the Games and organ donation, and the gifts her husband, Jay, gave a little over eight years ago – and run into someone who received a similar gift and remembered Jay…
Earlier in the day, we were able to chat with Bryan Stewart, who pretty much runs the show for the Donate Life Float at the Rose Parade that I got to ride in 2009… (I met four of my fellow riders there too!!!) Bryan was there with another committee member, Amy, promoting next year’s “Seize the Day” float and rose dedications in The Family Circle Garden… Bryan told Laura about a t-shirt he’d purchased for his son and Laura decided that it was the perfect shirt for moi – he told her he got it at the Museum Shop at the State Historical Museum a few blocks from our hotel. She decided to secretly buzz over there when I wasn’t paying attention… If you know me, you can see that the screen on the shirt is totally appropriate…
At the store, excited about buying the shirt, Laura brought it to the register and a woman named Carol helped her… She asked why Laura was in town, and Laura told her about the Games – and told her about me and my cystic fibrosis and my new lungs. Carol explained that she’d had a beautiful daughter-in-law with CF who had also had a lung transplant and had lived four years afterwards… She let Laura know that she was very happy for both of us, and tickled that I’d already lived ten years!
I think Laura knew that I would want to go meet her, so the next day, when we were wandering around town, we stopped in… She saw Laura and smiled – she was way behind the counter and I asked if I could give her a hug… She said she was hoping I would… We chatted for several minutes and she told me about her daughter-in-law, Lisa…
She told me about Lisa’s struggles waiting for her lungs that I'd known as well – the difficulties just walking 30 feet on oxygen from the sofa to the bathroom... She told me about Lisa getting her lungs, and a longish recovery... Then she told me about her most vivid memory... They had all walked to the dog park that they had frequented over the years – at the park, their dog took off running – and then Lisa took off running after him – and they all stood in awe watching Lisa run... She told me with tears in her eyes, "Lisa was running!", and I could tell that she knew that that was the most wonderful sight in the world...
When we were leaving, she asked me to wait a minute – and she ran back to her office... When she came out, she handed me a beautiful little card from Lisa’s services – I could tell it must have been taped to her wall – probably since August, 2005... She told me that I could remember Lisa with this...
She was absolutely beautiful – as you can plainly see... I will remember Lisa... I so wish she was running with me at the Games in her home state…
We stopped back in to say goodbye on Wednesday... We took a few pictures – she smiled at me and said she thought that maybe someone sent us to her and that we were meant to meet – I thought the same thing... Before we left, Carol hugged both of us and she let us know that she admired our strength and told us that she understood all we'd been through – I know that she was speaking from the experience of watching her son and daughter-in-law, and their journey with Lisa's cystic fibrosis and lung transplant... And I neglected to thank Carol. I neglected to thank her for bringing a precious son into this world, and giving him the love and compassion and strength to be with Lisa, knowing that she was not likely going to be in this world long... Her son's love and support of Lisa is the same gift that Laura has given me... And like Laura has done for me – her son has helped shepherd Lisa through her life... It seems so very not fair, for Lisa, and for everyone who knew and loved her that she is not here – that she was not running next to me at these Games... But after hugging her mother-in-law, and sharing some tears with her, I felt how very much people loved Lisa...
