Canadian woman seeks help with living expenses while waiting for lung transplant

The Canadian health care system covers most everything related to hospital expenses for surgery and medical treatment but many patients have to travel to distant centers for specialized procedures such as lung transplants. This can impose a huge financial burden on the patients and their support persons who must be able to pay for travel, food and accommodations while waiting for their transplant in addition to maintaining their residence back home. Some provinces, such as Ontario, help with expenses for residents who must travel from their homes to centers within the province. Read Ontario's guidelines.

This story about a Prince Edward Island woman who has been asking for financial help while living a thousand miles from home in Toronto while she waits for her lung transplant highlights the problem. Now the politicians are taking up her cause. We wish her luck in this quest.

Transplant patient needs province's help: Crane

The P.E.I. government has to stop dragging its heels and come up with some assistance for a woman waiting for a double-lung transplant in Toronto, says Opposition leader Olive Crane.

Crane wants the province to help Stratford resident Melissa MacPhail with living expenses. The 31-year-old is living in Ontario while waiting for the operation, which will be performed in Toronto.

Crane said most other provinces cover housing costs for transplant recipients who have to live out-of-province while waiting for surgery. It's unacceptable that P.E.I. only covers health-care expenses, she said.

Crane first asked the health minister for help for MacPhail back in the fall, and the minister told her the province would look into her case.

"A point was made in the legislature that he was going to review Melissa's case in particular and help her," Crane told CBC News Tuesday.

"Yesterday when I spoke with her directly in Toronto, she told me that government's been telling her that they're going to come up with some solutions. However they have been telling her that for January, February, and March. And as you know, April is around the corner and she is still left waiting."

Crane said to make matters worse, MacPhail has been told the province might not continue to pay for her oxygen.

Read more: CBC.ca

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Register to be an organ and tissue donor & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network. NEW for Ontario: recycleMe.org - Learn The Ins & Outs Of Organ And Tissue Donation. Register Today! For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register

In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register

Your generosity can save up to eight lives with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants. One tissue donor can help up to 100 other people by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves

Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant.

"Our beautiful girl" loses fight with cystic fibrosis

This is the final chapter in Eva Markvoort's valiant wait for a donor lung to become available. View the above video she made shortly before her death and read her inspiring blog journal and comments from around the world at http://65redroses.livejournal.com/.

By Katie Derosa Times Colonist


Eva Markvoort, the 25-year-old University of Victoria student whose blog about her battle with cystic fibrosis attracted an international following, died Saturday of the disease. Markvoort has recently been awarded her theatre degree from UVic at her hospital bedside.

She had struggled with the genetic disease since she was a year old and went into chronic rejection after receiving a double lung transplant in 2007.

Her father, Bill Markvoort, said her family was by her side in her last days and "in the end she simply ran out of breath."

"We're going to miss her so much."

Markvoort's website, under the moniker 65 Red Roses, inspired an award-winning documentary of the same name, which aired on the CBC.

The New Westminster native wanted to be an actor, and it was with a dramatic flair that she spread awareness about cystic fibrosis and the importance of organ donation.

Shortly after news of her death, hundreds of messages of condolence from all over the world flooded her blog.

"She is in our hearts. Rest in peace dear Eva," said Natalia from Poland.

"Eva changed my life with her message of hope and love. I will never be the same, and though there are no words to express my sorrow for your loss, I am glad to know that she is in peace," wrote Laura, from Albuquerque, NM.

On March 25, Markvoort wrote her last post.

"I am not managing, not managing at all. I'm drowning in the medications. I can't breathe. Every hour. Once an hour. I can't breathe. Something has to change"

As she lay in Vancouver General Hospital the last two months of her life, the walls of her room were plastered with hundreds of cards and letters, many from people with terminal illnesses inspired by her strength.

Markvoort recorded a tearful goodbye video Feb. 11, saying she likely had only days to live. But she kept hoping a lung donor might become available, despite the risks that come with a second double lung transplant.

In late February, UVic forgave the two electives she had yet to finish and awarded Markvoort her bachelor's degree in fine arts. She was also awarded the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation's Doug Summerhayes award for outstanding commitment to the cause.

Her father said her response after accepting the award was, "This is my legacy."

The family asks that in lieu of flowers, people make a donation in Markvoort's name to the Vancouver chapter of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation at http://www.cfvancouver.ca.

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Register to be an organ and tissue donor & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network. NEW for Ontario: recycleMe.org - Learn The Ins & Outs Of Organ And Tissue Donation. Register Today! For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register

In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register

Your generosity can save up to eight lives with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants. One tissue donor can help up to 100 other people by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves

Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant.

Synthetic peptide may enhance lung transplantation

This is exciting research that could have the potential in the future to prevent or lessen the damage to transplanted lungs by ischemic reperfusion injury that affects 10 percent of patients leading to the death of many within weeks of their transplant. Let's hope that these studies are successful.

By Tom Baker Medical College of Georgia

Dr. Rudolf Lucas (left), vascular biologist in MCG's Vascular Biology Center and MCG postdoctoral fellow Dr, Guang Yang are working to improve lung transplant survival.

Lung transplant patients may one day benefit from a synthetic peptide that mimics the body's natural ability to reduce excess fluid accumulation, Medical College of Georgia researchers report.

Excess fluid and other problems that can occur within 72 hours of a transplant can dramatically reduce short-term survival odds and long-term lung function. About 10 percent of patients experience an acute lung injury in the hours after their transplant, killing more than 40 percent of those patients within 30 days.

MCG researchers show in the March issue of Critical Care Medicine that putting the TIP peptide into the trachea of rat lungs about a half hour before transplantation can nullify the bad result, called ischemic reperfusion injury, and improve oxygenation.

"We see the parameters of the transplanted lungs are nearly normal," said Dr. Rudolf Lucas, vascular biologist in MCG's Vascular Biology Center and the paper's corresponding author.

Reactive oxygen species are natural byproducts of oxygen use that can cause cell damage and death at high levels. Stress, such as putting dormant lungs back to work, can increase their levels. "Suddenly you put the lungs back in a body and you get an oxygen supply which by itself causes a lot of damage, mainly because of reactive oxygen species production," Dr. Lucas said, noting that donor lungs may be preserved in a cool, protective solution for several hours.

A major potential problem immediately after lung transplantation is dysfunction of sodium channels in the alveoli, tiny air sacs where oxygen uptake occurs, impairing the sacs' ability to clear fluid into the lymphatic system. Additionally, researchers have documented an immediate invasion of white blood cells called neutrophils, which also produce reactive oxygen species.

Implicated in these early problems is tumor necrosis factor, or TNF, an inflammation-producing cytokine that helps the body fight infection, which can be deleterious, even deadly, at high levels, Dr. Lucas said. The lung transplant activates TNF production, causing cells that line the organ's vasculature and air sacs to produce more reactive oxygen species and block sodium channels.

Interestingly, TNF can also have a polar opposite effect: blocking reactive oxygen species production and increasing sodium uptake. Dr. Lucas' team discovered this site, which binds to specific sugars, nearly a decade ago.

Unfortunately in the case of a lung transplant, the "bad" side is dominant; in fact, researchers from New Jersey Medical School refer to TNF's "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde saga" in an accompanying editorial in Critical Care Medicine.

That's where the synthetic TIP peptide comes in.

When scientists gave the synthetic peptide to rats undergoing lung transplants, the good side prevailed. Levels of reactive oxygen species and neutrophils dropped and sodium channels rebounded.

Soluble TNF receptors, which block TNF's "bad" action, already are being used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, in which the immune system attacks joints. MCG researchers have found that blocking this site does not block the positive-action, sugar-binding site. "That means we have a physiologically relevant form of this peptide in our body, a cytokine that could help us avoid the problems that lead to ischemic reperfusion injury," Dr. Lucas said. Next he will study whether that natural site can be revved up instead of giving a synthetic peptide. He also wants to explore the synthetic peptide's potential in diseases such as diabetes-associated vascular problems as well as with other types of organ transplants.

The synthetic peptide can act like a lectin, big proteins that bind to sugar. Just how this sugar-binding activates sodium uptake is something he's still studying. But he knows the sodium channel effect is important because when he blocks it, the positive effect of the synthetic peptide is lost.

He also wants to know the peptide's long-term impact, including its effect on neutrophils. If it continues to suppress their infiltration, the peptide also could have potential for chronic transplantation problems, including organ rejection, he said.

Collaborators for this study include Drs. Stephen Black and Sanjiv Kumar at the Vascular Biology Center, who helped with lung endothelial cell studies and measuring reactive oxygen species levels; Dr. Jürg Hamacher, pulmonologist and transplant surgeon at the University Hospital of Bern, Switzerland, who performed the lung transplants; and MCG postdoctoral fellow Dr, Guang Yang.

Three-year survival rates for lung transplants are about 64 percent and about 20,000 lung transplants have been done in the United States since the first successful single-lung transplant in 1983. Primary reasons for lung transplants include chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, pulmonary fibrosis, cystic fibrosis and lung cancer. As with most types of transplants, donors lungs are in short supply, so the mean wait time is about four years, which means many patients die waiting.

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Register to be an organ and tissue donor & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network. NEW for Ontario: recycleMe.org - Learn The Ins & Outs Of Organ And Tissue Donation. Register Today! For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register

In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register

Your generosity can save up to eight lives with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants. One tissue donor can help up to 100 other people by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves

Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant.

Illinois organ donation campaign for National Donate Life Month

April is Donate Life month in the U.S. and Scott Meis from Donate Life Illinois forwarded the following announcement about a unique national campaign to promote organ and tissue donation. Please check it out and share as we strive to increase the rate of organ and tissue donation and save more lives.

"Hi Merv,

I don’t think we’ve officially connected but I’m the campaign manager for Donate Life Illinois and work closely with Gift of Hope Organ & Tissue Donor Network in Illinois.

I hope all is going well. Just wanted to give you a heads up on a new national campaign that we just launched to put a fun push behind the build up to April being National Donate Life Month. It’s called Mascots On A Mission www.MascotMission.com and is designed to take a light-hearted approach to the issue to help draw in those that would ordinarily not pay attention to organ/tissue donation.

You can subscribe to the daily blog updates here to follow the story line and there will be some great video footage of the mascots “training” later this month. We’ve also set up a media center here.

Take a look when you get a chance and feel free to share away!

Take care, Scott/"

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Register to be an organ and tissue donor & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network. NEW for Ontario: recycleMe.org - Learn The Ins & Outs Of Organ And Tissue Donation. Register Today! For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register

In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register

Your generosity can save up to eight lives with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants. One tissue donor can help up to 100 other people by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves

Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant.

Wisconsin Online organ donation registration starts April 1, 2010

Congratulations to the state of Wisconsin for joining the 45 other states in implementing on-line organ and tissue donor registration. In this age of hi-tech where almost everyone has access to the internet it makes becoming an organ donor very easy to do. These new initiatives will lead to saving more lives as people get off the waiting lists for their transplant and a second chance at life.

By: Jules Miller, Wisconsin Public Radio, Superior Telegram

Beginning April 1, people in Wisconsin can register online to be organ donors.

Martha Mallon is president of the non-profit group Donate Life Wisconsin. She says the online registry will speed up the process of connecting patients with available organs. Mallon says the main goal is to save more lives, and “enhance the lives of people through eye and tissue donation.” She says there’s more than 106,000 people nationally waiting for organ transplants, and 18 people die every day before a suitable donor is found.

The online option will not replace the organ donor registry people sign up with when getting their Wisconsin driver’s license. Mallon says more than half of the state’s licensed drivers are on that registry. She expects that number to jump once the online option begins next month.

Forty-five other states currently have online donor registries.

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Register to be an organ and tissue donor & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network. NEW for Ontario: recycleMe.org - Learn The Ins & Outs Of Organ And Tissue Donation. Register Today! For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register

In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register

Your generosity can save up to eight lives with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants. One tissue donor can help up to 100 other people by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves

Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant.

Jobs speaks about transplant, champions donor bill

By Serenity Caldwell, Macworld
Networkworld.com

While Washington debated the merits of its proposed health care bill, Apple CEO Steve Jobs made a rare public appearance at a hospital in Palo Alto to champion his own cause: organ donation. Last year, Jobs received a liver transplant in Tennessee after taking a leave of absence from work for health reasons. On Friday, at a press conference held at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, Jobs spoke in detail about his procedure and about California's proposed measure to help other residents on the state's waiting list.

"This coming week is my one year anniversary," Jobs said, smiling, to the crowd. The Mercury News covered and videotaped the conference (video embedded below), which focused on California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's new legislative proposal regarding the expansion of the donor list. The bill would require the state's Department of Motor Vehicles to add an additional field to its drivers license application regarding organ and tissue donation. Currently, the field--which asks applicants to select whether they would like to be a donor or not--is optional. In addition, it would create a "California Living Donor Registry" for kidney patients, matching them with people willing to donate a healthy kidney.

Jobs spoke briefly about his own experience on the transfer list, stating "there were simply not enough livers in California to go around, and my doctors here [at Stanford] advised me to enroll in a transplant program in Memphis, where the supply-demand ratio of livers is more favorable than it is in California." According to Jobs, more than 3400 people in the Golden State needed an organ transplant last year, but a mere 671 transplants took place, and 400 people died while waiting.

The Apple CEO, according to the governor, was "instrumental" in getting the bill put together. "Because [Jobs] is a wealthy man, that helped him get the transplant," said Governor Schwarzenegger. "But he doesn't want that--that only wealthy people can get the transplant and have a plane waiting to take him anywhere he needs to go... everyone ought to have the right to get a transplant immediately."

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Register to be an organ and tissue donor & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network. NEW for Ontario: recycleMe.org - Learn The Ins & Outs Of Organ And Tissue Donation. Register Today! For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register

In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register

Your generosity can save up to eight lives with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants. One tissue donor can help up to 100 other people by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves

Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant.

I'm back - regular posts to follow

I just arrived back home after being rushed to the hospital  by ambulance with chronic diarrhea due to an unknown cause. I was incapacitated for 24 days and couldn't keep up the regular posts but will catch up this week. Thanks for your patience. Merv.

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Register to be an organ and tissue donor & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network. NEW for Ontario: recycleMe.org - Learn The Ins & Outs Of Organ And Tissue Donation. Register Today! For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register

In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register

Your generosity can save up to eight lives with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants. One tissue donor can help up to 100 other people by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves

Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant.

Lung recipient who fought for native rights to be honored

I had the pleasure of meeting Donald Marshall Jr. and it was inspiring to talk to this man from Nova Scotia. His story is one of victory over racism and prejudice.

By SHERRI BORDEN COLLEY The Chronical Herald.ca
Donald Marshall Jr. stood for justice in his life and continues to be honored in his death.

An avid fisherman, Marshall — with much courage and sacrifice — dedicated his life to fighting for Mi’kmaq and equality rights. His struggles helped transform Canada’s justice system.

In 1971, the then 17-year-old from Membertou resident was wrongly convicted of a murder in Sydney.

"When they sent him to prison, it was hard on the family," his sister Roseanne Sylvester recalled in a recent interview, conducted six months after her brother’s death.

"My mother, every Christmas, she would sit at the phone and wait for him to call and then we would take turns talking to him. And (my mother) always believed that he never did what he was blamed (for)."

Marshall spent 11 years in prison before he was freed and subsequently acquitted. Another man was eventually convicted of the murder.

In 1999, Marshall scored his second major legal victory. That year, the Supreme Court of Canada sided with him in a decision that confirmed native fishing rights.

The decision came three years after Marshall was charged with fishing eels out of season, fishing without a licence and trying to sell illegally caught eels.

He took the case to the country’s highest court because he believed the treaties signed by his Mi’kmaq ancestors gave him the right to fish year-round and sell his catch — and the court agreed.

"He probably didn’t expect to accomplish all this when he was caught fishing the eels," Sylvester said from her Caribou Marsh home.

The decision "changed the lives of the Mi’kmaq and the Maliseet people, and all the communities in Atlantic Canada. The fisheries, now they make a livelihood from that," she said.

"He accomplished a lot of things in his life but he didn’t really want to be recognized."

On March 12, the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society will host a day-long symposium to honour Marshall’s legacy at the Mi’kmaq Native Friendship Centre on Gottingen Street in Halifax. It comes 20 years after a royal commission in 1990 found that prejudice and institutional racism in Nova Scotia’s justice system led to Marshall’s wrongful murder conviction.

"I sometimes think . . . people think only of the wrongful conviction when they hear the name of Donald Marshall Jr." but he should be remembered for much more, Emma Halpern, the bar society’s equity officer, said in a recent interview.

His cases changed Canadian law, setting precedents in the area of wrongful convictions, compensation for those wrongfully convicted and aboriginal rights, Halpern said.

The barristers’ society always envisioned recognizing his impact on the aboriginal community and society in general, and the symposium is its way of honouring the mark he made on the legal profession, she said.

Marshall died last August at age 55 of complications from a double-lung transplant he had in 2003.

While Sylvester and her family welcome the recognition, they still wonder what Marshall’s life would have been like had he never gone to prison.

"Maybe he would have had a better life, maybe a family (earlier) because the best years of his life were gone," Sylvester said.

Marshall’s wife of two years, Colleen D’Orsay, knew a very private side of him.

"I think a lot of people have a lot of misconceptions about Donald and his legacy and what he’s done for Nova Scotia and marginalized people," D’Orsay said in a telephone interview from British Columbia, where she now lives.

"It’s important to know that what happened to Donald in his life could have happened to anyone and he was willing to stand up and make the most out of a bad situation . . . to make things better for others."

Because their two-year-old son, Donald Marshall III, will have no memories of his dad, D’Orsay said she will ensure he knows the historical impact his father had on society.

She also wants people to remember her husband for what he accomplished and not the times that he stumbled.

"Most of us would give up and curl up into a ball, he could have done that too and he never did. And I think that’s extraordinary," D’Orsay said.

Open to the public, the symposium is free of charge but advance registration is required, as seating is limited.

To register, email Emma Halpern or phone 902-422-1491.

‘He probably didn’t expect to accomplish all this when he was caught fishing the eels. . . . He accomplished a lot of things in his life but he didn’t really want to be recognized.’

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Register to be an organ and tissue donor & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network. NEW for Ontario: recycleMe.org - Learn The Ins & Outs Of Organ And Tissue Donation. Register Today! For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register

In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register

Your generosity can save up to eight lives with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants. One tissue donor can help up to 100 other people by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves

Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant.

Liver recipient Klug settles for seventh in Vancouver Olympic Games

See my recent post about Chris Klug who received a liver transplant in 2000 and with tremendous determination transformed himself into an Olympic athlete. Although Chris didn't win a medal in Vancouver he is an inspiration to us all and continues to be an advocate for organ and tissue donation.


Aspen Daily News
The Roaring Fork Valley’s last chance for a medal at the Vancouver Olympic games came up short on Saturday.

Aspen’s Chris Klug, in his third Olympic appearance, finished 7th in the men’s snowboarding parallel giant slalom event on Vancouver’s Cypress Mountain.

Klug made it to the semi-finals of the event, where he was bested by Slovenia’s Zan Kosir. Klug was behind more than a second and a half in both of the round’s two runs.

Veteran Canadian snowboarder Jasey-Jay Anderson took the gold — and his first Olympic medal — while Benjamin Karl, of Austria, won silver, and Mathieu Bozzetto, of France, edged out Russia’s Sanislav Detkov for the bronze.

Klug has the best American finish in the event, with Tyler Jewell, of Steamboat Springs, placing 13th overall.

Thirty-seven-year-old Klug has two top-eight results in World Cups this season, including fifth — one spot behind Jewell — in Krieschberg, Austria. His first Olympic experience came in 1998 in Nagano, Japan. He is also the only organ transplant recepient to ever medal (a bronze in the 2002 Salt Lake City games).

“For me, first and foremost, I love doing the sport and that’s why I’m here,” Klug told the Aspen Daily News last week. “But a huge motivating factor for me to continue snowboarding and pursue a third Olympic bid was the opportunity to share a message that’s really important to me, and that is the life-saving message of organ and tissue donation. I’m here today because of it.”

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Register to be an organ and tissue donor & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario or Download Donor Cards from Trillium Gift of Life Network. NEW for Ontario: recycleMe.org - Learn The Ins & Outs Of Organ And Tissue Donation. Register Today! For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register

In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register

Your generosity can save up to eight lives with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants. One tissue donor can help up to 100 other people by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves

Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant.