Olympic bronze medalist Chris Klug will be the honored guest at the 2006 Transplant Reunion on Saturday, July 8 at the Holiday Inn Convention Center, 72nd and Grover Streets. Klug is the first American with an organ transplant to ever compete in the Olympic Games.
Klug had a liver transplant in the year 2000 in Colorado, seven years after being diagnosed with primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC).
“I’m so lucky to be alive today,” Klug said. “To receive the gift of life is a humbling experience. I will forever be grateful for my second chance. Everyday I thank God and I thank the individual’s family for the decision to donate.”
Just two years after his transplant, Klug found himself atop a Salt Lake City mountain, racing in the 2002 Olympics. Klug won a bronze medal in snowboarding, making history as a transplant recipient.
“That winter was one of my best seasons ever. I attribute that to a new perspective on life and feeling lucky to be doing what I loved again after running the ‘Race for my Life,’ ” Klug said.
Klug’s sentiment is echoed by every one of the 300 transplant patients from 19 states who plan to attend this weekend’s 2006 Transplant Reunion. Among them David Waldon, a 1989 liver recipient from Los Angeles, Calif., who has tried to attend every reunion since receiving his new liver on his 19th birthday.
“I’ve brought my family members in the past,” Waldon said. “I plan to start bringing different friends every year because it’s so inspirational. You’re surrounded by people who shouldn’t be here!”
In all, more than 1,000 people are expected to attend the event – celebrating 36 years of organ transplant in Omaha. The racecar theme, “Start Your Engines,” symbolizes a new start to life. The reunion also is an opportunity for patients and their families to reunite with friends and medical staff they met during their stay at The Nebraska Medical Center.
That’s the reason 2-year-old Anthony Chiasson and his family will be making the long trip from Baton Rouge, La., for the event. Anthony’s father donated 25 percent of his liver so Anthony could receive a liver transplant at 3 months of age.
“We can’t wait to come to the reunion and meet some other children who are transplant recipients,” said Laurie Chiasson, Anthony’s mother. “We are also anxious to see the medical staff at The Nebraska Medical Center again. We want them to see how well Anthony is doing!”
“The reunion is great for patients and it’s a wonderful thing for our medical team,” said Alan Langnas, D.O., chief of transplantation at The Nebraska Medical Center.
“Transplantation is difficult and sometimes patients don’t get better, so to go to the reunion and see children that we transplanted as babies doing well and bouncing around – it’s amazing and very rewarding.”
Transplant recipients, including Chris Klug, will be available for interviews beginning at 9 a.m. Klug will speak at 11:30 a.m. He will be signing autographs after lunch.