Transplant recipients get new lease on life

[okarol]

Published June 14, 2010 | 11:30 p.m.

Transplant recipients get new lease on life

BY TERRY FLORES
tflores@kenoshanews.com

Kathy Vilski believes she has someone to thank in Kenosha for saving her life nearly 40 years ago.

Although this person lost his life, it was the donor’s kidney that gave her back hers.

On the verge of kidney failure, she was approved for transplantation on Sept. 15, 1975. Three days later, she had the surgery.

“I was sort of existing, and I was very tired,” Vilski, 62, of Menominee Falls, said Monday to a group of supporters who attended the statewide “Legacy of Life Tour” that made a stop at the Kenosha Public Museum to promote the 2010 National Kidney Foundation U.S. Transplant Games.

An education

The games, July 30 to Aug. 4 in Madison, along with the Legacy tour, aim to educate people about transplants and organ and tissue donation, according to Cindy Huber, chief executive officer of the National Kidney Foundation of Wisconsin. According to the foundation, 1,500 people in Wisconsin and more than 108,000 people nationwide are awaiting organ transplants. About 18 people each day die waiting, Huber said.

This year, Team Wisconsin will have nearly 700 members competing in several Olympic-style events, with the games attracting hundreds from all over the country.

Vilski, who is competing in swimming, said her kidneys were damaged when she was a child after complications from strep throat. At first, she managed her illness with medications and diet. When she was in her 20s, she was going to dialysis twice a week and was always exhausted, she said.

New kidney, new life

After the transplant, Vilski’s life changed dramatically.

Her energy level increased. She returned to teaching and more time with her husband and family.

“Yesterday (Sunday), we celebrated 40 years of wedded bliss,” Vilski said.

Without the “the man who had the courage to designate that organ, that gift of life,” she would not be alive today, she said.

Vilski later learned the donor was likely from the Kenosha area. She is forever grateful for the donor’s gift and has always wanted to meet his family.

“Back then, it wasn’t the norm or common for (recipients) to meet them or to have contact,” Vilski said.

Vilski, who has since retired from teaching, said this year is the first time she is participating in the games and promoting it on the tour.

“I was thrilled when Cindy (Huber) asked me to come back home to where my kidney came from,” she said.

Son lives on

Two days before her son Merritt died in a motorcycle crash, Wendy Healy discussed organ donation with him, prompted by a plane crash wherein a surgical team was flying donated lungs to a transplant recipient.

Healy said her son felt bad for the man who was awaiting the new lungs.

“My son was a wonderful kid,” she said. “And he would’ve wanted this.”

Because he died in a crash, Merritt’s organs could not be donated, but his tissue would later help 72 people, she said. From bone marrow to veins and heart valves, Merritt’s tissue was grafted 122 times.

“Now, 72 people have better lives,” she said. “My son didn’t die for nothing.”

‘Celebration of life’

Ron DeGolier, 67, of Kenosha, who has participated in the games since their inception, said his kidney transplant in 1985 also gave him a new lease on life.

DeGolier, a competitive cyclist, said that back then, those on a list for transplants had a shorter wait time.

“Nowadays, it could be two to five years, and then you may die waiting,” he said.

DeGolier said the games bring an awareness that is needed to help save lives.

“I went from deteriorating to having my life back again,” said DeGolier, whose cycling photos are often featured to promote the games. “For me the transplant games are a celebration of life.”

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