Transplant recipient a big inspiration, Omaha, Nebraska
By Jane Palmer | WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

For 22 years, Rowena Kaluza and her family were grateful for her second chances at life.

Her family gave a big party in her honor in 2004 because doctors had told her she had only months to live. Despite many serious ailments, Kaluza surprised her doctor and her family by living life to the fullest for almost six more years.The Omahan, nicknamed “Ro,” received a liver transplant in 1989. In 2000, she had three more: two in January, one in August. After her kidneys failed from all medications, she had a kidney transplant in 2003.

Kaluza died Jan. 2 at the Nebraska Medical Center and her funeral was Friday. She was 58.

Kaluza was born in Canton, Ohio, and moved to the Omaha area when she was 12. She graduated from Omaha's South High School in 1970 and attended Metropolitan Community College.

She married John Kaluza III, an Omaha police officer, and she devoted herself to their children, said her daughter, Angie Madden of Omaha. She was a Girl Scout leader and a Cub Scout den leader. She coached softball teams. As her health began to fail, her husband of 39 years cared for her at home.

Kaluza needed a liver transplant because she developed primary biliary cirrhosis, a disease of unknown origin that is possibly related to a problem with the immune system.

After her 1989 liver transplant, she became a mentor in a transplant support group. She went parasailing one year to draw attention to the ongoing need for organ and tissue donations. And she regularly traveled to the U.S. Transplant Games to compete in sports like bowling, table tennis, softball throw, badminton and shot put.

“She was just a huge inspiration for people,” Madden said. “Anyone going on the list for transplants, the doctors would have people call her.”

Kaluza won spelling contests and loved to sing, and she enjoyed traveling with her husband and playing penny slot machines and billiards, her daughter said.

“No matter what she was going through, she always went through it with the most positive attitude,” Madden said. “When we'd call, she would say ‘I'm fine.' She had a radiant smile and everybody loved her.”

Kaluza's survivors also include daughter Bonnie Savine of Omaha; sons John and Brian, both of Omaha; nine grandchildren; and parents John and Joyce Randall of Council Bluffs.