Next dot on the map, Marshfield! We set up shop at the YMCA in Marshfield and again had computers up for anyone to sign up for the online donor registry. Just in case you’re reading this and want to join it, the web site is www.YesIWillWisconsin.com . One of the really neat people I met at the Marshfield event was Richard Koch. Koch is on the Board of Directors for the Lions Eye Bank of WI (LEBW) and one of the FIRST to sign up on the online registry. He said he knew it was coming out because of a press conference he had been informed about, so back in March he kept checking online to see if it was a go yet. The first day it was up he happened to be checking, saw it, grabbed his driver’s license (all you need to sign up) and got in on the online registry. Koch said his wife’s sister was an organ donor and just two years ago his cousin received a kidney transplant, both of those things, along with being part of the LEBW, have made him very aware of the importance of organ donation.
“It’s important to sign up on the online registry because there’s a long list of people waiting for organ donations,” said Koch. “And there are a lot of people on that list that never get an organ because there aren’t enough. Being on the online registry makes it easier for family in a hard time so they don’t’ have to make the decision of whether or not to have their loved one’s organs donated on their own.”
I included a picture of Koch at the computer showing me how he signed up back in March.
Another very sweet person we met in Marshfield was Bill Reigel. Reigel had a heart attack back in July of 1979 when he was only 40 years old. After the heart attack he recovered and was doing well, but then went into cardiac arrest in an airport in New York when he was leaving a convention in 1987. He told me that from then on his heart just kept getting worse so he got moved up on the list. On May 12 1992, his deceased father’s birthday no less, he received a working heart.
“It has been an awesome experience,” said Reigel. “I have seen my family grow.”
Two weeks ago he and his wife celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary! Congrats to both you and your wife, Bill! :)
There was no donor family member to speak at this event, but the quilt panel on display did have a patch recognizing a Marshfield native, Kristina Jane Marty. Marty was 16 when she passed away.
Her patch says, “We loved her so much but God loved and wanted her more.”
I included a picture of Kristina’s patch.
I also have a picture of Reigel presenting an LEBW member with another panel of the quilt.
Links to media coverage:
Marshfield News Herald
http://www.marshfieldnewsherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=20106100396
This marks the end of the fourth event! June 10th the Legacy Tour will be in Green Bay and Appleton. If you’re in the area I hope you can join up with the tour for the day!
A lot of Team Wisconsin members have used these events to get hooked up with other team members in the area. In Wausau team members exchanged contact information and were planning a time to get together so if you can make it to one of the tour’s in your area it would be really fun to get team groups together!
Here’s the rest of the schedule in case you haven’t seen it:
Thursday, June 10th - Green Bay and Appleton
Monday, June 14th - Kenosha
Tuesday, June 15th – Janesville
Tuesday, June 22nd - Milwaukee
Wednesday, June 23rd - Madison
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