|
E-mail this page to a friend!
Senior Citizen Star
Senior Citizen Makes Solo Round-the-World Voyage
Promoting Organ Transplants
First heart and
kidney recipient to accomplish grueling feat
 October
16, 2006 - But the intrepid Ardell Lien, a 71-year-old Minnesotan, never
gave up on his dream to solo circumnavigate the world, which has earned
him a place in history as the first heart and kidney recipient to
accomplish this grueling feat.
Sailing around the world was a lifelong dream of
Ardell's. But a few years ago, he thought his sailing days were behind
him forever. Ardell and his wife Maureen had been living aboard their
sailboat for six years when his health forced them to sell their boat
and return to their hometown of Caledonia, Minn.
| |
Related Stories |
|
| |
Horseman Completes Visits to 48 State Capitals at
Age 70 to Help Children
 Gene Glasscock to be greeted at Ohio capitol on
Thursday
Nov. 24, 2005 - Long Rider Gene Glasscock at age 70
is about to complete a horseback journey of over 20,000 miles and three
years in his quest to visit every state capital in the lower 48 states.
He will arrive tomorrow at his last capital city – Columbus, Ohio. He is
raising scholarship money for the children of Paraguay and sending a
message to senior citizens.
Read more...
Bill Anderson, 78, Completes
Coast-to-Coast Bicycle Ride
Oct. 22, 2004 – Bill Anderson, the 78-year-old
bicycler, yesterday completed his ride from San Diego, California, to
Jacksonville Beach, Florida, and received a police escort as he
completed the 3,000 miles trip and raised over $3,000 for the homeless.
More...
Read more
on
Senior Stars |
|
"I'd been diagnosed with congestive heart failure
in 1991 but had very few symptoms until 1998," Ardell recalls. "By 2001,
I was down to 150 pounds and everyone in town knew I was on my way out.
I slept 18 hours a day and had to crawl up the stairs to my bedroom. I
couldn't even help carry groceries into the house."
Ardell's first appointment at Mayo Clinic was in
July 2002. By October, his health had deteriorated significantly and he
was admitted to Saint Marys Hospital to await transplant. He had also
sustained kidney damage due to insufficient blood supply to the organ
and was told he would need both a heart and kidney transplant.
On Jan. 1, 2003, Ardell received the good news that
a matching heart and kidney were available. Surgery began at 2:30 the
next morning. That evening, Maureen visited Ardell in the recovery room
and was surprised to find that his hands were warm.
"Because of my circulation problems, my hands
hadn't been warm in years," explains Ardell. "The transplant made a
difference immediately."
Ten days later, Ardell was released from Saint
Marys Hospital. Transplant recipients are required to stay in Rochester
for 90 days after surgery for follow-up appointments, so Ardell joined
his wife at the Gift of Life Transplant House where she had stayed
throughout his months of hospitalization.
"My recovery went very well," says Ardell. "I had
no pain, and each day was better than the one before."
"Everyone at Mayo, from the people who work the
desks to the physicians, nurses and technicians, were excellent," says
Ardell. "My primary physician, Dr. Brooks Edwards, was always there with
support and encouragement. I am proud to call him my friend. And you
couldn't find a finer group of professionals than the staff of Charlton
9 (the Transplant Center)."
Six months after his transplant, Ardell roofed his
house. In the summer of 2004, he remodeled another home from roof to
basement. And shortly after that, he hatched his plan for sailing around
the world.
"I never thought I'd be doing this at 70, alone, in
a very small boat," he says. "But that is what gets attention and will
help get my message out. I hope my journey will show how one life was
changed for the better because of a generous, heroic organ donor."
“Planning for his trip gave him hope - something
to hold on to and look forward to while he was on the waiting list and
then during recovery after surgery,” said Maureen. “He wanted to show
the world that a healthy, active life is possible after organ
transplant. He certainly has done that and inspired many people along
the way.”
Lien underwent transplant surgery at Mayo Clinic in
Rochester, MN, in January, 2003. Maureen will be on the dock to greet
him along with his family, Mayo Clinic Cardiologist Brooks Edwards M.D.,
Cardiac Surgeon Richard Daly, M.D. and local donor families and organ
recipients who sent him on his trek May 5, 2005.
Lifesharing Volunteer Amy Chester is among the many
people who have followed the Captain’s journey. Her father, currently on
the waiting list for a liver and a kidney, used to sail competitively.
“Dad and I have been following Ardell’s world wide voyage. It has been
such an inspiration for us. We definitely will be there to greet him
when he returns to San Diego.”
During his trip Lien visited 19 ports, skirted
hurricanes, survived gales, tropical storms, blistering heat, and ate
more pancakes than he ever thought possible (pancake mix was easily
stored in his tight quarters). He also rounded the Cape of Good Hope,
traversed the Panama Canal and crossed the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic
Oceans. Interestingly enough this past week on his return from Hawaii
has been among the roughest of his entire trip.
His voyage in the 27-foot sailboat ‘Catalyst’ is
detailed in a Captain’s log posted on the Lifesharing website <http://www.lifesharing.org/>.
Lifesharing, the federally-designated organ procurement organization
serving San Diego and Imperial counties in California, coordinated his
bon voyage and welcome home celebrations and introduced him via email to
the organization’s life-saving counterparts worldwide.
Recent log entries:
Sunday, October 08, 2006
This has been a very difficult passage. The conditions have been the
pits with water coming over the coach roof often. I sopped as much as
possible up using an entire roll of paper towels. The boat was handling
the conditions fine. It was the human cargo who needed rest so I climbed
into the bunk and got three hours sleep before sunrise. This was 4/5
days ago.
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
Making pancakes a short while ago was a show indeed. A cake hit the
floor, it tasted fine. Remember Grandma said you had to eat a pound of
dirt before you die. Was it a pound or a bushel? I took a break, now an
hour later and the wind is down to the high teens, same direction.
That's all for now, weather and seas consume my thoughts.
Saturday, September 30, 2006
Saw my first ship in ages last night at dusk so I checked the pilot
chart and I am exactly in the shipping lane from the Philippines to Los
Angeles. I checked for traffic every hour or two and at midnight another
and just before daylight another. They were all about 3 miles away and
probably saw me way before I saw them. Been looking for more all day,
but no joy.
While docked to stock up on provisions and repair
equipment battered during the journey including his three main sails,
Lien met many organ and tissue recipients. He also spoke with media to
raise awareness about the precious Gift of Life possible only from
donation.
“Awareness is so important to end needless deaths
on the waiting list,” the Captain noted in emails sent almost daily
during his adventure. “Unfortunately some families don’t say ‘Yes’ to
donation because they don’t know what their loved one wanted. It is so
important to register beforehand for your family’s sake and to ensure
your wishes are followed.”
The official welcome home will be at 10 a.m.
Thursday (Oct. 19) at the San Diego Harbor Police Dock, 1401 Shelter
Island Dr., San Diego, CA 92106.
Current U.S. organ donation statistics from the
United Network for Organ Sharing (http://www.unos.org
<http://www.unos.org):
*92,474 candidates are registered on the national
organ waiting list, and 1,982 are children
*Every 13 minutes a new name is added to the national list
*Today 74 transplant surgeries will be performed giving people a second
chance at life, while 18 people will die waiting
*Californians comprise 21 percent of those on the national organ waiting
list
*In San Diego County 1,332 people need a donated organ to survive; 129
died waiting here in 2005
To learn how to register to be a donor in your
state, visit the Donate Life America website at
http://www.shareyourlife.com. The official way to sign-up in
California is through the Department of Motor Vehicles or online at
http://www.donateLIFEcalifornia or in Spanish at
http://www.doneVIDAcalifornia.org
It takes only minutes to register to be a donor and
can mean a lifetime to someone else.
>>
More details on the voyage – click here.
>>
More at May Clinic – click here.
Click to More Senior News on the
Front Page
Copyright: SeniorJournal.com |
