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Our Work is Not Done
by John Landers

The 2000 U. S. Transplant Games are over for the athletes and donor families and I hope that it was a grand experience for all.

However, for the Team Managers there is still much left to do including writing and sending many thank you letters to sponsors, writing a Games summary of results to be shared with sponsors, affiliates, local media and whoever else has an interest. It's time to reconcile the team financial statement and make sure all receipts and disbursements are accounted for. It's time to listen to those team members who may have a personal issue regarding a decision made at an event venue that they felt was wrong. It just isn't over.

It's about being a part of something where the whole is so much bigger than the parts.
--Team manager, recipient, and donor family member John Landers
The work isn't done. The work of those who run the games from NKF is not over - there are long days ahead for everyone as we close one chapter and look forward to the next. To the Games management and to my fellow team managers - I salute all of you. It's a tough job. It's a job that the members of the team and others may take for granted.

So why do we do it? I can only speak for myself and say I do it as part of my personal mission to show the world that donation and transplantation works. I do it to see the joy and excitement and the awe inspired in every team member as we cheer the efforts of each other. It's about being a part of something where the whole is so much bigger than the parts. The Games are the finest example of the triumph of the human spirit as recipient athletes and donor families come together with one strong voice and shout "it works!"

I first came to the U. S. Transplant Games in 1996. In Salt Lake City, Utah I first participated as a donor family member and secondarily as an ill-prepared athlete. It was an awesome experience that re-ignited a passion to make a difference. I was asked to manage the team for both the 1998 and 2000 U.S. Games. Though there have been moments when in the back of my mind a little voice is saying "why" - it has been an honor to work with recipient athletes, donor families, and my fellow team managers as well as the staff of NKF. We have all done our jobs well, but there remain nearly 70,000 people awaiting a second chance for life, so we must continue our work - we are not done.

On a personal note, I wouldn't be alive today if it weren't for the courageous decision of a donor family in November 1991. I received the heart of a young lady who was just 3 weeks short of her 16th birthday. I never would have made it to transplant if it wasn't for the love and caring of my beautiful wife who had to watch while I was devastated by disease. She was there every step of the way, every day. Sometimes she never left the ICU for fear she would not see me alive the next day. She was and is my strength and after 16 years of marriage, at the old age of 47 and nearly nine years post-transplant, I will be there to welcome into this world our first child in early September. That's what I call "recycling life"! I'm guessing my work here is not done.

Until we meet again in 2002 - thank you all.

Peace, health and happiness,

John Landers
Manager, Team Arizona 2000

 

 
 
 
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