Lumberjack Jewett has new perspective after kidney transplantSeptember 21, 2008
Bill Jewett and his son Dave are big, strong, pragmatic men.
There's a problem? Figure out a course of action and fix it.
This thinking would apply to repairing, say, a leaky water tank. And, let's see ... broken kidneys. To listen to the Jewetts, it's all plumbing anyway.
In late 2006, Dave Jewett, the much-liked world champion lumberjack from Pittsford, was shot down in his prime by a mysterious kidney disease. A shocking six-month decline in health landed the strong-as-an-ox 37-year-old on dialysis.
Dave faced an uncertain future, one where a normal life is impossible relying on machines to filter toxins from the blood to stay alive.
A life that certainly didn't include continued participation in a demanding sport requiring chopping and sawing giant logs and traveling around the world.
That is, unless, he received a transplant.
"It wasn't a conversation that ever happened between us," Dave said. "I was lying in Rochester General and once the surgeon told us, 'Your kidneys are done, you need a transplant,' it took all of one second before my dad said, 'We'll, I'm your blood type.'"
The surgery took place on Aug. 2, 2007 at New York Presbyterian Hospital. Today, 13 months later, Jewett has his life back and is wrapping up what has been an emotional and extremely encouraging comeback season on the professional timbersports circuit.
Dave Jewett has learned a lot on this unexpected journey.
He knows the difference now between inner strength vs. brute strength.
He knows about the power of friendship and family. What it means to be truly loved and thankful. That it's OK to not be so fiercely independent, that accepting help isn't a sign of weakness.
Like a year ago when friends just wouldn't take no for an answer and threw him a fundraising party at his favorite watering hole, Thirsty's. Food, drink, and raffles raised $23,000 to help him with his uncovered medical expenses.
He notices how the sky seems bluer when given a second chop.
"I don't try any harder but I appreciate the successes way more," said Jewett, who took first overall at the recent Macedon Lumberjack Festival, his third overall title of the summer. "Friends at Macedon said, 'You looked so excited coming off that hot saw win, that look on your face.' And it was 'Yeah, I know.' I've been looking for that for a long time, getting that excitement back. Things are more rewarding now."
Giving his son the gift of life for a second time is Bill Jewett's reward. Typically, the energetic 66-year-old shrugged off his role in this everyday miracle, more amazed that we each have a spare part to give.
"It's not a big deal,'' Bill Jewett said. "Once I knew his blood type, we're both Type 0, we knew what plan A was.''
Plan A is what parents do.
"Don't think. Just go for it," the retired Kodak engineer said of his philosophical approach to being a donor. "Donors should realize it's low risk for them and a huge benefit for someone else."
Dave Jewett knows he's one of the lucky ones. According to the National Kidney Foundation, the average wait for a cadaver kidney is 1-2 years and more than 70,000 people nationwide are on the list.
Life on dialysis is sure no picnic. Side effects — fatigue, nausea, headaches, infections — can be debilitating. Jewett won't ever forget the six months his blood was cleansed artificially. He'd lie awake feeling like ants were crawling over his entire body due to haywire phosphorous levels.
Reading and watching Austin Powers movies was the only way he made it to morning.
"I complain and I only had to go six months," he said. "There are people who get on donor lists and ..."
Well, they spend years on donor lists, maybe never getting the kidney or heart or liver or pancreas they need. The message: sign those donor cards. Tell your family your wishes.
Though a private person by nature, Dave Jewett doesn't mind role modeling for transplant patients. He was back playing recreational hockey and soccer just a couple months after his surgery and returned to competitive lumberjacking in May after just eight months of recovery.
While Jewett's strength had returned, he lacked endurance and his technique — like an axe left out in the rain — had rust on it.
The holder of 20 world records who was the fifth-ranked woodsman in the world when he took ill, he performed poorly in his first three events, including failing to advance in the elite Stihl Timbersports Series at the opening event in Lehi, Utah, where the hero's welcome he received overwhelmed him.
But after those early setbacks, Jewett finished first overall at a pro event in Ontario, Canada, in June, registering some of his best times ever.
Then at the World Championships in Hayward, Wis., in July, he claimed third overall and was again the No. 1-ranked American when he registered three seconds and a third place.
Super Dave was back.
"I got my tail kicked in Utah and it just took the pressure off my shoulders," Jewett surmised. "Some of it was physical. But I was really just tired of the mental stress of it all. Really, it was just trying to have fun again and not worry about the outcome. Not worry about the money. That's all it takes, not that it's easy."
In this sport, hundredths of seconds can leave you out of the money. August was especially cruel for Jewett as he struggled again in three consecutive events. But the Macedon show lifted his spirits once more heading into an event next weekend in Paris, France.
"Physically, Dave's doing really well, it's more a question of him right now believing he can still do this," said Quebec's J.P. Mercier, Jewett's record-setting partner in the two-man crosscut.
Mercier said his longtime friend is way too hard on himself. But then, that competitive fire is what drove the 6-3 Jewett to victory time and again against competitors 100 pounds heavier.
"I'll be going 'Dave, you just had major surgery. It's not like you had a tooth removed,'" Mercier said. "Everyone is so happy to see him again but we're all telling him it's going to take time. His body isn't the same as it was.''
Jewett ingests 15 pills a day to make certain his new kidney isn't rejected. He gets his blood tested every two weeks and he drives to New York City to see his doctors every six. He worries all the time.
But whenever self-pity creeps in about his life being turned upside down, Jewett thinks of lumberjacking friend J.R. Salzman, who enlisted in the National Guard, went to Iraq, had an arm blown off, and is back competing in logrolling.
"That kid's gone through 10 times what I've gone through," Jewett said.
Jewett requested that this interview be used to thank all the people that have helped and encouraged him. Of the fundraiser, he said: "Pretty awesome."
Those same words describe his dad. Bill Jewett passed on his lust-for-life personality to his son. He bikes, hikes, kayaks and fly-fishes when the mood strikes.
"He does more athletic stuff than I do," Dave said. "He downplays what he did for me."
The elder Jewett is just glad that he could do something to help his son fight back against a silent killer.
"It's a happy situation now compared to the way it was," he said. "All those difficult days are now behind Dave and hopefully this transplant will last a long time."
With any luck, Bill Jewett's kidney will function 20 years in his son's body.
"I feel I should do as much as I can and accomplish as much as I can for my dad's sake," Dave said. "It's not to prove anything, but I'm asking myself these days, 'What can I do with a 65-year-old kidney in me? What are the possibilities?'"
Endless when you're Dave Jewett.
http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20080921/SPORTS0103/809210334/1007/rss02PHOTO: Lumberjack Dave Jewett was back in competition eight months after receiving a kidney from his father, Bill. "I don't try any harder but I appreciate the successes way more," said Dave Jewett. " ... Things are more rewarding now." Dave, competing in the hotsaw event, left, was the top overall finisher at the recent Macedon Lumberjack Festival. (KRIS J. MURANTE staff photographer)
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