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.

Let the Olympic Games Begin - Feb 12

Schedule of events


Support Team Canada

Support Team USA

Feb 12 was the final leg of the Olympic Torch as it made its way to the opening ceremony and the official lighting of the Olympic Flame. The torch made it's way completely across Canada from the Atlantic to the Pacific and thousands of people were chosen to be torch bearers. Some of my favorites were Kurt Penner of London, Ontario, a double-lung transplant survivor of almost 8 years and Shania Twain who carried the torch in her home town of Timmins, Ontario. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of California carried the torch today along with other celebrities. He seemed to be the most popular torch bearer of the day, with huge crowds making it difficult for him to proceed while shouting "Arnold"..."Arnold".

Kurt Penner carries the torch through the streets of Woodstock, Ontario. Kurt received a double-lung transplant in 2002 and has been active in the transplant games and an advocate for organ donation awareness ever since.

Music star Shania Twain lights the Olympic Torch in her home town of Timmins, Ontario

Double-lung transplant to carry Olympic Torch

Kurt Penner, left , and Merv Sheppard at London Air Show, 6-27-04

(Click image for larger view)

Congratulations to my fellow lung transplant recipient Kurt Penner, who received his "gift of Life' at Toronto General Hospital in 2002 and has been selected from the millions who applied to be part of the Olympic Torch Relay. We were both patients at TGH and I met Kurt, his wife Lila and their family. We've been friends every since. We both have been advocates for organ and tissue donation since then, working with Trillium Gift of Life Network.

Kurt will carry the 37 inch and three-and-a-half pound torch on Sunday, December 27 in Woodstock, Ontario at 10 a.m. along Parkinson Road. This is one of the stops on the 27th as it makes it way from London, Ontario to the twin cities of Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario.

Kurt and his family were volunteers at the 1988 Olympics in Japan and in 1998 they visited their son who was working at the Olympics there for CBC. Kurt has taken part in three transplant games and won several medals.

Kurt entered a RBC Bank contest where he had to submit an application and state how he would make the community and country a better place to live. Kurt said he wanted to continue to promote organ donation and improve lives within his community and also to honor his donor.

The Olympic Flame began its 45,000 kilometer (27,961 miles) journey across Canada, on October 30 in Victoria BC, visiting over 1000 communities and places of interest. Twelve thousand torchbearers will carry the Olympic Flame from coast to coast to coast in what is the longest relay held within the borders of any Host Country in history.

The relay will culminate at BC Place on February 12, 2010, with the lighting of the Olympic Cauldron, signaling the start of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games.

See when the 2010 Olympic Torch Relay will be in your town.

“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.