Transplant Games offer Manitowoc man an opportunity to honor his donor.
By Suzanne Weiss, The Associated Press
That's because a heart transplant 10 years ago gave him a new lease on life.
And, for Halverson, the event -- which runs through Aug. 4 -- is less about the competition and more about honoring organ donors and their families, and drawing attention to the need for more donors.
"I just don't know how to say it," said Halverson, 69, getting all choked up. "It's the greatest gift anyone could ever get. I'm so grateful to my donor family."
His heart problems came to the forefront 30 years ago during a softball game.
"I couldn't walk off the field," he recalled. "I couldn't speak, either. It turns out I had a major stroke. I was paralyzed on my right side."
Doctors found he had a defective aortic valve, which was replaced with a stainless steel one in 1979.
Halverson suffered a number of minor heart attacks over a 20-year period, he said.
His heart had become enlarged and, by 1997, was so weak that he was put Advertise
on the transplant list.
One day, as they were stranded at St. Luke's Medical Center in Milwaukee for an extra day due to a heavy snowstorm, hospital personnel delivered the good news: "Roger, we have a heart for you," Halverson recalled. "That began the most emotional day."
On Dec. 19, 2000, he received the heart of a 25-year-old Madison-area man who had died.
"He donated everything. He helped about 60 people," Pat Halverson said.
It wasn't until 2003 that the Halversons finally met their donor family.
"Lots of crying," Pat Halverson said as she recounted how family members pressed their ear to her husband's chest so they could listen to their son's heart beating.
Since some of the donor's family members live near Madison, the Halversons invited them to attend the Transplant Olympics this year, and they said, "yes."
For Pat Halverson, the donor recognition day is her favorite part of the event, she said. "It's kind of a closure for them."
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