Games Provide Goal, Organ Recipients Say

Kevin A. Schneider

Dispatch Staff Reporter

Hooking a ball to the far left of the fairway never mattered more to Gary Halstead than it did last month.

The avid golfer and traveler, 59, has had more than his swing to worry about since 1997, when Columbus doctors diagnosed a lung-scarring disease that hampered his activities.

In 1998, the Northwest Side resident found himself wearing a backpack that held a plastic bag of oxygen. Tubes protruding from the bag fed into his nose.

The air supply "lasted for eight hours and then you had to refill it,'' he said. As his health got worse, "it only lasted four hours.''

Halstead received two lungs in August at the Cleveland Clinic after waiting for 1 1/2 years.

This week, he will be among 78 members of Team Ohio competing in the U.S. Transplant Games, being held today through Saturday at Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. Every member has received an organ or tissues.

The competition shows "there is life after a transplant,'' he said.

The biennial event is presented by the National Kidney Foundation to increase awareness about organ donation, said foundation spokeswoman Melissa Ferguson. The first organized games were held in 1982.

More than 1,700 participants from 50 teams across the nation will compete in the games, Ferguson said. All competitors are kidney, liver, heart, lung, pancreas or bone-marrow recipients.

The 1998 event was held in Columbus.

Team Ohio's members range from 5 to 73, Ferguson said. Athletes compete for medals in six age groups.

The competition includes many traditional Olympic events, including track and field, tennis, basketball, cycling and swimming, said Joe Kratzer, committee chairman and captain of Team Ohio.

Kratzer of Bellbrook, near Dayton, said participants welcome the opportunity to publicize the vital need for donor organs. A ceremony honoring living donors and family members who donated a deceased loved one's organs is a key aspect of the event.

"It's an opportunity for us to show appreciation for those who pretty much made the ultimate sacrifice -- losing a loved one,'' Kratzer said.

Many surviving family members face difficult decisions about whether to offer their loved one's organs, but Kratzer said the rewards are immeasurable.

More than 69,000 Americans are on the national organ-transplant waiting list, Ferguson said.

Marilyn Pongonis, spokeswoman for Lifeline of Ohio, said 16 Americans die each day waiting to receive transplants.

The waiting list for donors would be eliminated if every family who lost a loved one donated the organs when asked, she said.

Lifeline of Ohio promotes and coordinates organ and tissue transplants at 64 hospitals in 41 counties.

Many organ recipients recognize participation in the transplant games as a benchmark of full recovery.

"It really gives you something to stride for,'' Kratzer said.

Kratzer, 40, learned he had kidney disease in his late teens. He began dialysis at 27 and received a kidney from his sister in 1989.

Kratzer, a participant in the transplant games since 1992, said the event motivates organ recipients to maintain active lifestyles. He rides a bike and lifts weights to prepare.

"It helps you stay healthy,'' he said.

Team Ohio's participation is more important than its success, Kratzer said.

"Just the fact that we're competing is enough,'' he said.

Copyright © 2000 The Columbus Dispatch

This article posted June 29, 2000.