First of all – They’re back… Plus one… In this picture is #12, #8, #3 and #7… Kari wore #13 on her Algona high school volleyball team – I have #13 proudly on the sleeves of my Kari’s Klimbers team shirts… But I got that idea from a shirt that Kari’s Mom sent me after I first learned of her. It’s one of my most prized possessions in the world. It was created by her volleyball team after she passed. They dedicated their following season to her. Each of the girls in this picture, Katie, Wendy, Samara and Alex are wearing one of them too – they were Kari’s friends and volleyball teammates… They are #12, #8, #3 and #7 and they, along with my Jenn and Kathryn and (#2) Kelly and Christian were Kari’s friends and are some of the most precious people in my world… They’re nutz too – and they brought such spirit to the climb last year! They’re spelling out K-A-R-I in this picture if you were wondering…
In a few weeks, #12, #8, #7, #3, #2, me and 94 other people will be hauling our fannies up 94 floors in the Hustle up the Hancock for the Respiratory Health Association of Metro Chicago. In the last six years, my teams have raised almost $180,000 for the RHAMC… A lot of us have personal reasons for doing this – but as a group, we do this to honor and remember Kari Westberg – a beautiful girl I think about throughout the day, every day… A beautiful girl whose lungs I breathe with… And we do it to help others understand how special, and important organ donation is… I have other lung recipients, a heart recipient, a cornea recipient, and a few transplant nurses climbing with me – and I’m so proud to have them…
If you have a couple bucks lying around and you’re looking for a good cause to unload them – we qualify… You can pledge me here, or pledge someone on my team here… And you can read about why we do what we do here…
Friends…
Beyond that -- sometimes I can be kinda ignorant of others… Sometimes I kinda get into that mode and Laura nudges me and says, “You KNOW, Steve – it isn’t always all about you…” I’ve pulled this on a lot of my friends – not noticing when they’ve done something, or said something very special about me or about Kari… Last year my boss, Larry, posted some very kind things about me and Kari on his Hustle site – he mentioned how most of my days off at work were dedicated to speaking about Kari or volunteering to promote organ donation – he did something similar on his Hustle site this year and he’s in the process of raising a boatload of money again this year… And embarrassingly, last year, I hadn’t even noticed what he’d said about me until the climb was over… (Here’s why Laura usually nudges me and tells me what she usually tells me…)
I’ve worked with Celeste for over 25 years… She had her husband, Paul, have been on my Kari’s Klimbers teams since I’ve had teams… Way early on this year, she posted this picture that made me smile… But I hadn’t noticed a while later what she did to finished her Hustle page… I didn't notice until today.
Celeste and I have this crazy and beautiful friend from New York named Lisa. Lisa made my Mom cry a few months after my transplant... She was in town and showed my Mom her license. In the organ donor section, it said that if anything were to happen to her, her lungs were to be offered to me. Made me cry too... Lisa has always pledged me and Lizzy and Celeste and Paul – and on my way to thank her, I checked Paul’s and Celeste’s Hustle pages and on both of their pages I found the beautiful poem below that Celeste had written this year – I sat at my desk in tears after I read it… This is her “Ode to Steve…”
This is a story of our friend Steven
Who, for most of his life had a hard time breathing
You see, Steve has a disease called Cystic Fibrosis
And breathing for him was no bed of roses
You would think for someone that was so ill
Feeling sorry for yourself would be part of the drill
Lord knows he had every right to express that emotion
But if you know Steve, he would have no such notion
Day after day he came to work and would get
A laugh from people with his sarcastic wit
Always the one to make a joke while his health sank
Which was obvious when he started carrying an oxygen tank
Soon thereafter Steve had to take leave
Even with continuous oxygen, it was hard to breathe
So he waited at home as he was put on the list
To receive some new lungs; although that came with a twist
Although Steve wanted more than anything to live
He knew in order for that to happen something else had to give
That something else was another precious life
And Steve knew that would put another family in strife
Finally, one day after previously failed tries
Steve got the phone call that changed the tide
He received a pair of lungs that were healthy and strong
The gift that Steve had patiently waited for so long
It will be nine years this April and Steve’s life is full of bustle
And to honor his donor, he climbs the stairs in the “Hustle”
And for those of us who love him, we do what we can
By either climbing with him, donating to his cause, or just being a fan
Because if you haven’t guessed by now, Steve is a very special person
And he’ll never forget the precious life that was taken
He’s always sharing his story about Kari when opportunity hits
So that others may be inspired to help in any way they see fit
So, if you’ve gotten this far in our little poem for Steve
If nothing else, please consider this before you leave
Nothing is more precious than life you can give
And giving life to others is a gift that will live
I’ve been meaning to post about my upcoming Hustle up the Hancock, and I guess this was the perfect lead into that… And maybe it will also remind me to pay a little more attention to some of my friends…
Celeste (& Paul): you do know that Laura is going to have a few words with both of you for making my head swell even larger, right?
