Erik Compton, the Tip of the Iceberg!

Erik Compton, a two-time heart transplant recipient, inspires people as living proof of the goodness in our world. In the golf world, we first heard of his golfing ability when he played on the Palmer Cup and Walker Cup teams while at the University of Georgia. He gutted it out during the first decade of the millennium on the Canadian and Nationwide Tours. Struggling to survive in golf he won a Web.com event to get his PGA TOUR card in 2012 only to lose it. Though he bounced back finishing T7 to get back on the big tour in 2013. That’s when we saw him finish T4 at the Honda Classic which led him to the 2014 season. While last year which is part of this year’s new wrap-around season he didn’t do much, he had two Top-10s at Arnold Palmer’s Bay Hill and in New Orleans before THE PLAYERS Championship. Then came his heroic second place finish (with Rickie Fowler) behind the precise PLAYERS Champion Martin Kaymer in the United States Open on the Pinehurst No. 2 Course. Now he is an accomplished professional golfer first, a two-time heart transplant recipient second, or actually third as we were introduced in television features to his wife Barbara and daughter Petra. But in that other world, the organ donor & recipient world, I learned, that golfing professional Erik Compton is just the Tip of the Iceberg.

I went on a city tour of Houston and came back not only with a new perspective of the fourth populous city in America but of the organ donor & recipient world. All by chance mind you. I was excited to be going on a double decker bus tour with fresh memories of exciting times doing so in Mexico City; Lima, Peru; Santiago, Chile and Buenos Aires, Argentina during the ‘Journey to Olympic Golf.’ Arriving early at the Hilton Americas in downtown, which was the point of origin for the tour, I was looking forward to a topside seat and a spectacular view on a beautiful summer day. I was surprised, as were the other people in line. to see the bus arrive with a full load of people on top. Determined to sit atop the scenic coach I ventured up and out, passing by discouraged tourists while hearing the words I did not want to hear- “all full , no more seats on the upper deck.” Well, of course I had to see for myself, and what I did see was a seat with my name on it (not really) right in the middle of the back row. I didn’t know it at the time but I sat down right in the middle of a family- mother and father to my left and 21-year old son and his wife to my right. Doing so changed my whole visit to Houston.

First of all, in the course of chitchatting with the parents, I learned that they had paid ten dollars less than me for the same tour. If you know Andy the golf travel writer this is not possible. The second thing I learned was one of the most remarkable things I ever heard or saw in my life. Derek, the son of Sandy and Terry, the husband of Kelsey, had received a heart transplant as a newborn baby when he was 11 days old. Their family and pretty much everyone else on that bus was an organ donor recipient or part of a organ donor family. An organ family is a family that lost a loved one unexpectedly and through their loss brought life via an organ, eye or tissue transplant to one or more people.  I would also learn that there is such a thing as a living organ donor (see Myron’s video interview below). Houston was the host city and the Hilton Americas was the host hotel of the 2014 Donate Life Transplant Games of America. The day of the tour happened to be registration day!

When the tour was over I went inside the hotel to learn more about these people and the Transplant Games. There was something very special being around organ recipients and organ donor families. I was able to interview several people and there interviews are below. I also was intrigued by a couple of the workshops on Monday so I registered for a media credential. There I learned a great deal more and captured a few more interviews. Now that I have thought about it, if one was to seek inspiration on this Earth wouldn’t this be the one of the best places to find it? I think so and am very grateful for the interaction and experience I had with the people I met at the 2014 Donate Life Transplant Games of America in Houston.

I hope you will take the time to meet these exceptional people through these video interviews. Please take out your driver license now and if it does not have ORGAN DONOR on it please register by clicking here.

Click here for Part 1 of 2 of the Video Interview  with Joe Stott, Heart Transplant Recipient.

Joe Stott is one of the most heartfelt and inspirational people you will ever meet. In August 1990 he got word from his doctor that it was “either a heart transplant or a pine box” due to cardiomyopathy, a degenerative heart disease. After a waiting a tense six years he received a heart from donor Bryan, age 19 who was tragically hit and killed by a car. Ironically his twin brother also had cardiomyopathy and is a heart recipient as well. Joe jokes that his disease is ‘idiopathic’, any idiot can get it. In this beautiful video interview from Joe’s heart, he recognizes that the Transplant Games are a celebration of life and especially a celebration of donor families. Joe references the two woman in his life- his wife Judy and his mother-in-law Tina who is known as the Georgia Peanut, a lovable character that helps open each version of the Transplant Games.

Click here for Part 1 of 2 of the Video Interview  with Joe Stott, Heart Transplant Recipient.

In Part 2 of his interview Joe shares a startling fact that the percentage of people registered as organ donors  varies widely from state-to-state with Georgia the highest at 50% and Texas the lowest at 15%. Joe’s humor shines through again with his comment- “we want everyone to be a organ donor but we don’t want you to be one today.” If your desire is to be one, make the decision and register today by clicking here. Joe is very thankful Bryan made his wishes known at the very young age of 19. Joe is not a golfer but knows the name Erik Compton well and stated- “I know the good work that he does.” With Joe’s heart and likeable personality, I think he should be a golfer and compete at Houston’s Memorial Park GC like so many other Transplant Games participants!

Click here for Video Interview with Paula & Bill Fallon, A Donor Family.

The next two people I met were incredible people to say the least. Try to imagine your child dying suddenly with no warning. We can’t do it, we just can’t go there because of fear and heartbreak. But what if you had to because that became a reality in your life? Again, overwhelming, even thinking about it. Then imagine two people who looked for the positive in their moment of grief and asked- how can this help other people? There you would have Paula and Bill Fallon. There aren’t two nicer, more in tuned with life, people in this whole world. The motto that evolved from the Jonathan Fallon Donor Family, shared by Bill in the video, is “In Life He Gave His All, and then He Gave It All to Others.” Paula’s comment about “making our hearts smile” really struck me. Let’s do, why not sign up to be an Organ Donor right NOW? Jonathon did, so can we.

Click here for Video Interview with Myron Thritle, a Living Organ Donor.

There are times in our golfing life where we don’t even want to give our fathers a 3-foot putt, yet Myron Thritle gave his father one of his two kidneys. Myron is a Living Organ Donor. Organs that can be transplanted are the heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas, and intestine. Kidneys are the most commonly transplanted organs and the only ones by Living Organ Donors like Myron, in addition to partial lung and liver donation. Myron’s Dad had a kidney disease and was on dialysis for three years. It is not automatic that a father and son match but theirs did and Myron extended his father’s life for nearly ten years. I was touched when he said that the transplant strengthened their relationship and that they were very close at the end of his father’s life. Lesson learned, give Dad the 3-footer and a kidney if necessary!

As I mentioned, I was so inspired by meeting these Organ Recipients, Organ Donor Families and a Living Organ Donor I went to the Resolution Room (I am telling you we can learn something from these people!) and met Bill Ryan, the President & CEO of the Transplant Games of America. I read about the workshops to be held and asked Bill if I could get a Media Credential and he graciously granted me one!

The first workshop I attended was “And in their Last Hour, They Gave a Lifetime.” It was a behind-the-scenes look at the organ and tissue donation and transplantation process, including organ suitability and the ‘matching’ process. Megan Baustian, with Life Source Organ & Tissue Donation, gave a very informative workshop. One number that has stuck in my mind is 122,863. That was the number of people who are on the list who need an organ or tissue transplant. At the Phoenix Open last year I was wowed by the record 179,022 people who came out on Saturday. I thought that was a lot of people. Now I only think of all the people who need you to sign up to be a organ donor. Remember Joe said that we don’t have to give now, just register!

CLICK here for a Video Interview with Melissa Devenny, Managing Director of Donate Life America.

Another workshop I attended was simply called “Voices,” presented by Melissa Devenny, Managing Director of Donate Life America. People that are most likely to register as a donor if they know someone who has been affected by donation and transplantation. Basically everyone at the Transplant Games of America- donors and recipients and their family and friends. This goal of this workshop was to come up with a 10-word statement to inspire and motivate complete strangers to register as an organ donor. This is a difficult task. Most people do not want to talk about death. Melissa knows her stuff and there is no doubt in my mind she would make an excellent coach of any professional sports team. People like to still think and say things like “if I die…” Maybe there is an ‘if’ in life for use but there is no ‘if” in death for any of us. Make the decision and register today, let your wishes be known and save your loved ones even more turmoil in the event of your unexpected passing. I like what golf writer Dan Jenkins said at his Induction into the World Golf Hall of Fame about what he wanted written on his tombstone- “I told you this would happen.”

Click here for Video Interview with Tina Klingenberg, a Liver Transplant Recipient.

Last, but certainly not least, when it comes to the inspirational people I met at the Transplant Games is Tina Klingenberg. She had liver failure at age 17 and a liver transplant to survive at age 18. The day after we were in Melissa’s “Voices” workshop, Tina would be celebrating 20 years with her new liver. She didn’t even look 20 years old total to me. I think all she had to do was smile at people and they would register as an organ donor. Now a wife and mother of two young children she wants to give back and be a voice that is heard for those 122,863 people on the ‘need an organ or tissue’ list. She wonders what would happen if one of her children needed a transplant. She came up with the line “Before I stole my husband’s heart, I received another man’s liver.” With an opening like that and her smile how can anyone say no to registering as an organ donor today?

Click here to see the Video Interview with Bettyann Harlow, a Liver Transplant Recipient.

My neighbor Bettyann is a liver recipient and well she is the best neighbor I ever had, bar none. She was a normal teenager until 15 when she had pains in her stomach and her weight dropped to 65 pounds. She managed her Ulcerative Colitis Disease until age 21 when she had colectomy surgery. Bettyann had an ileostomy until her 40s then an ileo0anal pouch. Now she thinks it”would have been a good thing for people to know.” She started to feel “itchy and tired” in 2005 and contracted an autoimmune disease called Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis (PSC). About 5% if people with ulcerative Colitis and  Chron’s Disease progress to PSC and the only cure is a liver transplant. After educating herself, she and her husband Bud came to Jacksonville and became active with the transplant group at the Mayo Clinic. On August 11th she received the call that a donor liver was available and that she needed to be at the hospital within the hour. After a four hour surgery she went home six days later. She says simply in the video that someone, an organ donor, left a legacy and she received a liver because someone was an organ donor.

Leah Askew  is a proud grandmother as well as a proud mother. “My daughter, Melissa gave her son, Evan, life 2 times!” Once by birth the second time via kidney transplant. Donors, recipients, family & friends, it’s all one big family hoping for you to join as a registered organ donor!

That’s it, that’s all I have to say about organ donation and transplantation. I met some wonderful, awe-inspiring people at the Transplant Games of America but looking back I should not have been surprised.  I hope you enjoyed this article and the videos. Now you know several people of the organ donor give-and-take lovingly family so research and statistics would say you have registered as an organ donor. Have you?