Transplant bond forged on waters across Ontario

[okarol]

Transplant bond forged on waters across Ontario
Dragon Boat team shows true spirit of competition

Posted By BOB VAILLANCOURT, THE SUDBURY STAR
Updated 16 hours ago
   

"I was worried I would never live the life I thought I would live," Debbie Lanktree says after learning almost 20 years ago she would need a kidney transplant.

It didn't turn out that way. Saturday, she was on Ramsey Lake competing with Team Transplant in the Sudbury Dragon Boat Festival.

The team is made up almost entirely of transplant recipients, said captain Donna Fleming.

"The majority of us are transplant recipients -- vital organs, livers, kidneys, lungs, heart and bone marrow. And this year we opened it up to corneas. That is a new thing."

The team has been together about 11 years, with Lanktree joining it three years ago.

She learned of the team while competing in the World Transplant Games in London in 2005. "I did the 3 km, the 1,500 metres and played badminton. It was through people there that I heard about the dragon boat team."

Besides the camaraderie, the main focus of the team is to show others what can be accomplished following transplants, said Fleming.

"I just knew it would be a good thing for donor awareness," she said of her reasons for starting the team.

When she first thought of forming the team, Fleming said it took a little time. But eventually the project took hold with the team practising and competing on a regular basis, mainly in the Greater Toronto area. "We have that transplant bond and it's a strong bond. We are family."

While Lanktree was dealing with the emotions of having to undergo the operation, both her brothers were being tested to see if they could be suitable donors.

"It was horrible learning I had to go on dialysis. That was really the frightening part. I was 29 and I was afraid I was going to die," said Lanktree. "I was so heartbroken that I would never have children."

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At the time of her diagnosis, she was on the track team at university. After the testing, it was her brother, Jim Pettigrew, of Sudbury, who provided the kidney.

The operation took place Oct. 2, 1999.

Throughout the testing, said Pettigrew, his main worry that after the testing the operation wouldn't be successful.

It was. Making the trip to Sudbury to cheer her and her team on was Lanktree's husband Richard, and the couple's two children, Dylan and Caitlin.

While Lanktree was a big part of bringing the team to Sudbury for the Dragon Boat Festival on Saturday, another was Ken Campbell who is currently on dialysis. His cousin, Brad Leonard, is a Sudbury resident.

The two say they really didn't have too much of a selling job to convince the team to come to the Nickel City.

The biggest obstacle, said Lanktree, was getting them past the five-hour drive from Toronto. But her belief that the team members would find a welcoming atmosphere and great venue for a dragon boat race was proven correct.

http://www.thesudburystar.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1113256

[monrein]

I just ran across this post and was glad to hear that Debbie is still doing well.  We used to both do volunteer work at the KF in Toronto.  Good for her and the dragon boat team.