From PKD Foundation
2014 Transplant Games of America
Houston, Texas
July 11-15, 2014
The Transplant Games of America is a multi-sport festival event for individuals who have undergone life-saving transplant surgeries. Competition events are open to living donors, organ transplant recipients, bone marrow recipients, and a limited number of corneal and tissue transplant recipients. More than an athletic event, the Transplant Games of America highlight the critical importance of organ, eye, and tissue donation, while celebrating the lives of organ donors and recipients.
This year, the PKD Foundation will attend the Transplant Games of America to celebrate with PKD families, transplant recipients, donors and donor families.
Are you participating in the Transplant Games of America in Houston, TX this year and joining the many transplant patients and donors that will be competing in a variety of activities from Badminton to Volleyball? Or, are you supporting a competitor at the games this year? If so, we want to hear from you! Tell us which team you will be joining and which events you will be competing in so that we can be there to cheer you on!
Tips for participants and supporters:
Register as a participant or purchase Event Supporter Passes at http://www.transplantgamesofamerica.org/registration.html
Transplant recipients and living donors competing in a medal event must complete a medical waiver available athttp://www.transplantgamesofamerica.org/registration.html
After you register with TGA, athletes that have not yet joined a team will be contacted by the Team Manager in the state in which you live
5K event is open to the public! More information http://www.transplantgamesofamerica.org/public5K.html
Hotel and lodging information can be found on the TGA website here, http://www.transplantgamesofamerica.org/area_hotels.html
Make sure you register with TGA! Learn more about the Transplant Games of America and register by visiting their website atwww.transplantgamesofamerica.org.
Have questions about registration? Download 2014 Transplant Games of America Registration Guide.
Are you wondering if you should participate? Here is what two sisters, donor and recipient have to say about the experience! [Read more]
PKD Gift of Life
Woman will donate a kidney to her sister
Like many sisters, Megan and Sarah Kellogg are close. But unlike many sisters, they are about to get a whole lot closer.
Megan, 31, will be donating one of her kidneys to Sarah, 28, on May 1. The two grew up knowing that someday this procedure would take place. Sarah was born with polycystic kidney disease, a potentially fatal genetic disease.
“They found out when I was about 6 weeks old. They discovered I had high blood pressure at a routine exam and then discovered cysts growing on my kidneys during testing,” Sarah said.
At the time, doctors thought they would do a transplant, but her health continued to be strong despite the high blood pressure and cysts. The sisters both said that Megan would have been the donor had the immediate transplant taken place, and as the two grew up in Pine, the transplant was something that they always understood.
“We never really talked about it; we just kind of knew it would eventually happen,” said Megan, who now lives in McCandless.
Sarah had a fairly normal childhood, although she had to take medication for her high blood pressure and kidney condition. She also wasn’t allowed to participate in contact sports as a student at Pine-Richland School District, but did play other sports, including softball, tennis and skiing.
“It wasn’t as if I was going to be playing football anyway, so it didn’t really make that much of a difference. I didn’t really know anything else since I was born with [the disease],” Sarah said.
Sarah joked that when she argued with Megan while the sisters were growing up, Megan would threaten to “keep her kidney.” [Read more]
PKD Fundraising
PIERMONT — The family of a three-month old girl battling a rare kidney disease is appealing to the public to help raise money for her care, and to help find a cure.
Ada May Laauwe, born Jan. 16, daughter of Kristen Coburn and William Laauwe, has been diagnosed with Autosomal Recessive Polycystic Kidney Disease, or ARPKD.
To cover the costs of her care at Boston Children’s Hospital, as well as the costs associated with her parents traveling to and staying in Boston, friends and family have organized a spaghetti dinner and silent auction to be held May 10 at the Warren Elementary School.
The fundraiser begins at 4:30 p.m.; tickets are $7 for adults and $5 for children ages 6 to 12, while those under 5 get in free. Donations can be made by mail to the Ada May Laauwe Fund, in care of Woodsville Guaranty Savings Bank, P.O. Box 86, Piermont 03779.
According to the Kirkwood, Pa.-based ARPKD/CHF Alliance, which is dedicated to serving patients who have ARPKD or Congenital Hepatic Fibrosis, the diseases have a genetic origin.
The alliance said the prognosis, “especially for those who survive the newborn period is far less bleak than once thought.” Infants with ARPKD who survive mechanical ventilation “have a good chance of survival,” with those who survive the neo-natal period having a five-year survival rate of between 80 percent and 95 percent, with survival well into adulthood being “common,” said the alliance.
Approximately a third of the ARPKD population will need dialysis or kidney transplant by 10 years of age, the alliance said, with a family member of Ada May noting in an e-mail that the baby has already had both kidneys removed, but is doing well and is on dialysis pending a transplant.
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