As the Legacy Tour continues, we made a stop in Wausau at the Marathon County Public Library. There were lots of folks from the Lions Eye Bank of Wisconsin as well as members of Team Wisconsin that met up with us there. Each shared their stories, like Alex who had a double lung transplant when he was 11, Ted Gerbig who also had a lung transplant and now works with Donate Life and coordinates group events with Wausau area transplant recipients, and a number of other recipients were at the event as well. Lee Belmas spoke at the event as a recipient. He was diagnosed with Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis (PSC) years ago. For those of you out there like me, who had no idea what this was, Belmas explained to me that it is a disease that eventually turns into cancer, “a ‘when’, not an ‘if’” as he told me. In October of 2006 doctors found a tumor on his liver. He began chemo and radiation. But when Belmas got an infection in his blood he had to be transported to a Madison hospital, and after an exploratory surgery, which found the cancer was confined to his liver making a transplant a possibility, he was put on the waiting list to receive a new liver. Just three weeks after being put on the list, Jan. 31, 2007 he was given that gift. His family got to share the birth of two of his grandchildren with him. Belmas was also there for his son’s wedding, major events he likely would not have been a part of without a transplant. Belmas has written his donor family but never received an answer. He said if he did get to speak with them he would want to say, “Thank you for sharing your loved one with me and giving me a second chance at life. You’ll forever be in my heart.”
Cindy Geiss also spoke at the event to share her family’s experience with organ donation. Geiss’ husband, Gordy Miller, died from an aneurysm and because his family knew his wishes to be an organ donor, they were able to make that decision easier at such a hard time.
“It’s important to communicate with your family on your wishes,” she said.
Geiss and Belmas both presented a panel from Patches of Love: The National Donor Quilt to the Lions Eye Bank of Wisconsin. I included a picture of the presentation with this blog.
I also am including a picture of the transplant recipients from the Wausau area standing with Geiss by the quilt. From left to right is Ted Gerbig, Alex (I’m sorry Alex I misplaced your last name), Cindy Geiss, Lee Belmas and Alex’s dad.
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