Drive for Five: Good News

Before hammering away at the keyboard, your scribe usually doesn’t struggle to express thoughts about whatever topic dominates the cranium. This is an exception.

How to describe meeting for the first time the woman who shared her spare, saved my life and will forever live within me, literally and figuratively? This is not an excuse but I’m gonna steal a line from kidney recipient Dick Franklin. His donor is two-time Olympic gold-medal swimmer Crissy Perham, a DFF ambassador. The father of another Olympic swimming star, five-time gold-medalist Missy Franklin, said it well: “There are no words.”

Amen buddy. But this 66-year-old, who has a completely new lease on life thanks to the kidney Cathie Hitchcock eagerly shared, is gonna try.

The California native is salt-of-the-earth awesome. It was impossible not to cry tears of joy the first time I was able to wrap my arms around the mother of three, grandma to four and altruistic donor to one damn lucky dude.

Cathie’s journey to donate started upon learning husband Kirk had an autoimmune disease that has destroyed his kidneys requiring, to stay alive, thrice-weekly dialysis treatments. Cathie and Kirk have been married for 45 years. When it comes to matrimony, a great match. Not so in the sophisticated transplant world. The first step is blood type and then goes even deeper with DNA-level matching and compatibility.

Despite realizing she couldn’t help her hubby, Cathie poured heart and soul into becoming a donor. Knowing, through the voucher program, sharing her spare and saving another’s life would move Kirk to the top of the transplant list for a more suitable match. Nothing was going to stop a one-time four-wheeling fanatic. “I lost some weight and even went through a cancer scare and hysterectomy in January. I was determined.”

The personable soul spent seven years driving a school bus for special needs children. “These kids captured my heart from the get go. It was a perfect fit for me.” That statement made me think of my role as chair of the Irv Brown Endowment Fund at MSU Denver. It offers scholarships to low-income kids to study the business side of sports at the university in the honor of the Colorado sports legend. We each love kids, especially the most vulnerable.

Wait, there’s more. As the four of us enjoyed lunch? The long-time journalist within, and darling wife Kathy who asks even more questions, enjoyed learning about a woman with a long history, more than four decades, of dog grooming. Eight of those years to inmates in the California corrections system. My marrow warmed considerably hearing Cathie share her passion for helping those on the comeback trail learn a skill they can use moving forward. It’s what A Stronger Cord is all about when it comes to serving displaced men. Kindred spirits.

Cathie’s kidney is alive and well within this lucky old jock. Equally powerful? Our spirits are one heart beat. A magical match far beyond blood type, genetic makeup and anti-body harmony.

Good things come in threes, right? Cathie and Kirk are huge sports fans, especially the Denver Broncos and CU Buffs. We laughed and dated ourselves when Kirk mentioned, “We used to watch you on television.”

Much like beautiful brown-eyed wife Kathy, Cathie Hitchcock is not hesitant to correct a writer who sometimes embellishes. “Mark, I read that you’re crying at Hallmark movies? You can’t blame that on me. I don’t cry at Hallmark movies.” Busted.

However, this much I do know is true. A healthy kidney lies below my belt line. A five-inch scar readily identifies where this life-saving gift resides. It performs duties two Amyloidosis-battered filtering devices could no longer execute, They’re still within me too but relieved of responsibility.

A new lease on life thanks to an incredible human being who provided your correspondent a future no longer chained to a dialysis machine. In these troubling times in which we live? There is good news to share. Our world needs more characters like Cathie, an angel in my midst.

Wanna consider sharing your spare? Here ya go: https://shorturl.at/omd4a