Transplant patient active in Olympic-style event
Making a Difference: Chris Paxton
Chris Paxton knows what it is like to be given the greatest gift of all: Life. After receiving a kidney transplant from his father almost 15 years ago, he was given a second chance, and Paxton began to dedicate his time to raising awareness about the importance of organ and tissue donation. As part of the National Kidney Foundation, Paxton is on Team MO-KAN, a group of Kansas City-area individuals that will be competing in the foundation’s 2010 U.S. Transplant Games in July. The team will be holding a garage sale on June 12 in order to raise money to participate in the games, which helps raise awareness for their cause. The “Big Sale at the Garage” will be held from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the parking lot of Scott’s Auto Express, on U.S. 40 and Woods Chapel Road in Blue Springs.
What is Team MO-KAN?
Team MO-KAN is a group of transplant recipients, living donors, donor families, transplant professionals and supporters from Western Missouri and the state of Kansas. As a team we compete in the bi-annual U.S Transplant Games presented bythe National Kidney Foundation. This year the games will be held in Madison, Wis., July 30 through August 4. Our team is made up of over 80 people from Western Missouri and Kansas, including the youngest recipient on our team, Janna Wagner at 6 years old, and a number of recipients over 60. For the first-time ever at the Transplant Games a number of our Living Donors will be competing too.
What will you be selling at the garage sale and how will this benefit your cause?
We are going to be selling a wide variety of items, including: patio furniture, appliances, lawn mowing equipment, bicycles, children’s and adult clothing, children’s toys, and other various household and kitchen items. There will also be a bake sale and t-shirt sale as part of the fund-raising effort. For lunch we will be selling a hot dog lunch that will include a hot dog, chips and drink.
All of the proceeds from this garage sale will go towards helping offset the costs of our team members traveling to and participating in the 2010 US Transplant Games.
What are the transplant games and why is it an important event?
The transplant games are a bi-annual Olympic-style event for athletes who have received a life-saving organ or tissue transplant, including: kidney, liver, heart, lung, pancreas and bone marrow. Our transplant athletes will compete for gold, silver and bronze in 12 different sports, including track and field, swimming, tennis, basketball, cycling and golf. The transplant games were started in the 1990s with approximately 400 athletes and have since grown to an attendance of over 7,000, of which now includes transplant athletes, living donors, donor families, medical professionals and supporters.
With the national waiting list at over 100,000, and a new name added every 13 minutes, while 18 people die every day waiting to receive a life-saving transplant. The transplant games showcase the success of our second chance at life through the power of organ and tissue donation, whether that is through a living-related donor, anonymous living donor or the self-less sacrifice a donor family makes during the loss of their loved one.
This organization is very personal to you, why is that?
When I received a kidney transplant from my father almost 15 years ago, there were only about 60,000 people on the national waiting list, and now there are over 100,000. Today, statistics show that over one-third of Americans have some sort of kidney disease or kidney related problem and are unaware of that.
While over the course of 15 years that increase doesn’t seem like a lot, if you count the number of people who die every year waiting and longing for that second chance at life and sometimes never comes it is really tragic and very personal.
It is really important that you talk to your family and family members about being an organ and tissue donor because of the lives that can be saved due to the tragic loss of a loved one. I’ve never had to make that decision, but I’ve been blessed to be on the receiving end and I am eternally grateful.
The National Kidney Foundation and its programs strive to educate the general public not only about kidney disease, but also to make more people aware of the need for organ and tissue donation, so that more lives can be saved. Without the hard work and dedication of their staff and volunteers, we would know far less today than we do.
About Paxton
Age: 35
Volunteers at: National Kidney Foundation
DAY JOB: Creative Director at Paxton Creative Resources
What others say about Paxton:
“Chris is very involved with all the team activities and has been attending the Transplant Games since 1998. He has also attended two world games in 2003 and 2005 and competed in Australia. Chris has been creating Team MO-KAN’s logo since 1998 and has worked with National on their uniforms.”
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