Transplant Games help celebrate gifts of life
Locust Grove man meets and thanks the family of a young man who saved his life
Date published: 8/13/2008
By CATHY DYSON
As soon as Kevin Jones could hold a pen, he wrote to the family whose loved one saved his life.
Jones didn't know anything about the person whose liver had been transplanted into his body. He wasn't sure words could convey how he felt.
But Jones knew he had to reach out to his "donor family," so he told them about himself. He wrote that he flew helicopters in the Marine Corps for 24 years, still went by his call name of "Cutter" and is married with one son.
Jones thanked the family for their gift and told them how sorry he was for their loss.
He sent the letter to the agency that arranged his transplant, and officials forwarded it. Identities aren't revealed unless both parties agree.
Jones wrote again on the first anniversary of his transplant and on the second, in October 2007. He mentioned he was training for the U.S. Transplant Games in Pittsburgh in July and would write again if he had anything to report.
Jones, 55, didn't have to send another note. He met his donor family and was cheered at each event by the parents and sister of the young man whose liver made him whole again.
"It was like we had been friends forever," Jones said after the meeting. "I'm a Marine, so I'm not a hugger naturally, but I hugged them a lot."
Jones and his wife, Renee, spent lots of time during the games with the donor family: Eric and Jeannie Needle of Silver Spring, Md., and their daughter, Kerri.
After Jones won a silver in discus, he called Eric Needle to the podium and put the medal around his neck.
The Needles later spent a weekend in the country, at the Joneses' home in Locust Grove.
Both families are trying to figure out their new relationship, and both acknowledged the sadness that tempers each gathering.
"Cutter" Jones almost died from Hepatitis C, which he may have gotten from tattoos while in the corps or from sharing personal items, like razors, with other Marines on missions in the 1970s.
He got a second chance because 18-year-old Andrew Needle signed a donor card three days before he died from a diabetic coma.
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COMPETITOR HAS NEW GOAL: EDUCATION Phil Salmeri returned from his first U.S. Transplant Games in Pittsburgh with a goal--and it wasn't just to improve the volleyball team, which he coached so vigorously, players called him "The General."
The King George County man wants to share stories of people who've been given a second chance at life because someone donated their organs. Salmeri's sister shared her bone marrow with him in 1987, when he was given two years to live.
"Being local, we could have a lot more impact on people," the 61-year-old said.
Other area residents who attended the games were: Kevin "Cutter" Jones, 55, of Locust Grove, who met his donor family; Gary Scheer, a 27-year-old paramedic in Stafford County who received a liver when he was 13; and Anne Kirchmier, a 50-year-old Spotsylvania County mother who set track records less than a year after she received a new heart.
Jones already has been trained to speak to groups through LifeNet Health, a Virginia Beach agency that provides organ-recovery services. Scheer regularly talks to children waiting for transplants.
Salmeri is considering putting together a video of local stories for students. He believes they'll be as touched as he was.
Salmeri saw donor families cheer for those who benefited from their loved ones' organs. He saw winning teams insist on having their photos taken with teams they'd just beaten--something he never witnessed in 40-plus years of competitive volleyball.
"I like to win," he said, "but when I was there, I just had to enjoy the moment."
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HEART RECIPIENT'S JOB: TAKE CARE OF THIS GIFT
Anne Kirchmier has nicknamed her new heart, "Amy," and talks to her all the time.
When the Spotsylvania County resident went to the U.S. Transplant Games in Pittsburgh in July and stepped onto the track, she made a quick deal.
"I said, 'Amy, this is it. This is the day we've been waiting for. If you beat for me 100 percent, I'm gonna give you 100 percent.'"
The gun went off, and chills ran down her spine. Running was her passion until she got so sick she could barely walk.
Kirchmier set a new U.S. record in the 1,500-meter race with her time of 7:07.
Ninety minutes later, the woman who received a new heart 11 months earlier set another U.S. record in the 800-meter race with a time of 3:35.
"There was no way I was ready for that pace," she said. "It came from Amy and the spirit of her--and from God. I know it did."
Kirchmier, 50, had been a lifelong athlete and organ donor, who figured whoever got her heart would get a "humdinger" because she was so healthy.
She developed a condition that turned the right side of her heart into scarred, fatty tissue. For 12 years, she saw doctors across the country who didn't know how to help her.
Finally, Fredericksburg surgeon John Armitage and cardiologist Jeff Askew told her she'd die without a heart transplant.
She got the organ 33 days after she was put on the transplant list.
"A complete miracle happened," she said. "I am a totally different person."
The mother of three teenagers believes it's her job to stay healthy and to honor the "precious gift." She hopes to attend the World Transplant Games in Australia next year and earn a medal in Amy's honor.
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Americans are waiting for organ transplants
are Virginians
organ transplants are performed every year in America
are in Virginia
patients nationwide die every day waiting for an organ
each week are Virginians
lives can be saved by one donor
--Sources: LifeNet Health and save7lives.org |
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Date published: 8/13/2008
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