By Meaghan Baxter Sherwood Park News
Completing one Ironman competition is an accomplishment in itself, but Dwight Kroening of Sherwood Park (Alberta) is aiming to complete his second.
This second time around in the Ironman also marks the 25th anniversary of Kroening's heart transplant.
In 2008 at the age of 49, Kroening completed the Canada Ironman in Penticton, B.C. and became the first heart transplant recipient to finish the gruelling competition, which consists of a 3.8 km swim, 180 km bike ride and a 42.2 km marathon.
His second competition will be Ironman Arizona in Phoenix, which takes place on Nov. 20. Kroening has spent hours upon hours preparing for the event and feels he is in better shape for the competition this time around. His final time in 2008 was 15 hours and 33 minutes and he hopes to improve this by at least half an hour.
"There's a lot of training, obviously, over the course of the year and ups and downs, not knowing if you're going to get the hours in to be able to do it, but it looks like it's going to happen," he added.
Arizona holds special significance for Kroening, as his transplant took place in Tuscon in 1986. He had been diagnosed with terminal heart disease at the age of 26 and given two months to live.
"I wanted to do something that would raise some awareness... as far as the fact that organ donations do work and to get people to sign their donor cards and let their families know," he said of his reasons for competing. "There's still a lot of people who don't make it to the transplant because there just aren't enough donors."
Even after the transplant was successfully completed, Kroening was still only given another five to 10 years. He is a firm believer that there is always something that can be done in terms of a person's health and urges other transplant recipients not to give up on their options.
When thinking back prior to his transplant, Kroening admitted he had a competitive streak and wasn't the easiest person to live with. He attributes the transplant to saving his marriage. It was this same hard-headed nature that may have been key to his success.
"I was very competitive and maybe angrier, hot tempered much of the time and strong-willed. I guess maybe that's another reason I survived these 25 years," he added. "We were told that I might have five years, I might have 10 years because that was all the statistics they had at the time... after you hit the 10 years, well, everything is a bonus from there."
In addition to completing the Ironman competition for a second time, Kroening also hopes to meet the donor family who saved his life. A year after the transplant, he found out his donor was a 23-year-old male from Phoenix who had died by suicide, which was hard news for Kroening to take in.
"You always wanted to go back and be able to thank the family personally, but I haven't had a chance to do that. There are very few transplant recipients that have met their donor families and had that opportunity," he said.
Kroening began competing after participating in a 16-week research study at the University of Alberta by Dr. Mark Haykowsky. The study involved studying the effects of exercise on transplanted hearts.
"I was always active and you always have in the back of your mind with a transplant, and especially a heart, that if I'm out there running or playing a sport, is my heart going to be able to handle the stress?" he said. "You never know whether or not you're going to collapse or something's going to go wrong with the heart, so this was a great opportunity for me to put it to the test and I guess resolve in my mind and give me some peace."
There was no holding back for Kroening in the study, and he asked Haykowsky's team to push him as hard as possible to test his limits. The results showed his new heart was in the same shape as that of an elite athlete.
From here, he began training with Ken Reiss, a post graduate student assisting with the study, who also happened to be a
triathlete.
"From there it just kind of went from one to the next, to the next, never really believing I could ever do an Ironman," Kroening said.
After Kroening completed a half Ironman, Reiss urged him to take a shot at the real thing.
Heading into the race, Haykowsky and the university cardiology team were all questioning whether or not Kroening would be able to withstand the extreme endurance test since it had never been done by a transplant recipient.
"It was probably the most exciting and most emotional thing that I've ever done. I've played sports on teams, I've won tournaments and won games and won league championships, but nothing compared to that," he said.
Kroening credits Hawkowsky, Reiss, the cardiology team at the University of Alberta and his own family for his achievements.
"You couldn't ask for a better bunch as far as I'm concerned," he said.
Kroening is also an active member in the Canadian Transplant Association, World Transplant Games and the Good Hearts Mentoring Foundation.
Completing one Ironman competition is an accomplishment in itself, but Dwight Kroening of Sherwood Park is aiming to complete his second.
This second time around in the Ironman also marks the 25th anniversary of Kroening's heart transplant.
In 2008 at the age of 49, Kroening completed the Canada Ironman in Penticton, B.C. and became the first heart transplant recipient to finish the gruelling competition, which consists of a 3.8 km swim, 180 km bike ride and a 42.2 km marathon.
His second competition will be Ironman Arizona in Phoenix, which takes place on Nov. 20. Kroening has spent hours upon hours preparing for the event and feels he is in better shape for the competition this time around. His final time in 2008 was 15 hours and 33 minutes and he hopes to improve this by at least half an hour.
"There's a lot of training, obviously, over the course of the year and ups and downs, not knowing if you're going to get the hours in to be able to do it, but it looks like it's going to happen," he added.
Arizona holds special significance for Kroening, as his transplant took place in Tuscon in 1986. He had been diagnosed with terminal heart disease at the age of 26 and given two months to live.
"I wanted to do something that would raise some awareness... as far as the fact that organ donations do work and to get people to sign their donor cards and let their families know," he said of his reasons for competing. "There's still a lot of people who don't make it to the transplant because there just aren't enough donors."
Even after the transplant was successfully completed, Kroening was still only given another five to 10 years. He is a firm believer that there is always something that can be done in terms of a person's health and urges other transplant recipients not to give up on their options.
When thinking back prior to his transplant, Kroening admitted he had a competitive streak and wasn't the easiest person to live with. He attributes the transplant to saving his marriage. It was this same hard-headed nature that may have been key to his success.
"I was very competitive and maybe angrier, hot tempered much of the time and strong-willed. I guess maybe that's another reason I survived these 25 years," he added. "We were told that I might have five years, I might have 10 years because that was all the statistics they had at the time... after you hit the 10 years, well, everything is a bonus from there."
In addition to completing the Ironman competition for a second time, Kroening also hopes to meet the donor family who saved his life. A year after the transplant, he found out his donor was a 23-year-old male from Phoenix who had died by suicide, which was hard news for Kroening to take in.
"You always wanted to go back and be able to thank the family personally, but I haven't had a chance to do that. There are very few transplant recipients that have met their donor families and had that opportunity," he said.
Kroening began competing after participating in a 16-week research study at the University of Alberta by Dr. Mark Haykowsky. The study involved studying the effects of exercise on transplanted hearts.
"I was always active and you always have in the back of your mind with a transplant, and especially a heart, that if I'm out there running or playing a sport, is my heart going to be able to handle the stress?" he said. "You never know whether or not you're going to collapse or something's going to go wrong with the heart, so this was a great opportunity for me to put it to the test and I guess resolve in my mind and give me some peace."
There was no holding back for Kroening in the study, and he asked Haykowsky's team to push him as hard as possible to test his limits. The results showed his new heart was in the same shape as that of an elite athlete.
From here, he began training with Ken Reiss, a post graduate student assisting with the study, who also happened to be a triathlete.
"From there it just kind of went from one to the next, to the next, never really believing I could ever do an Ironman," Kroening said.
After Kroening completed a half Ironman, Reiss urged him to take a shot at the real thing.
Heading into the race, Haykowsky and the university cardiology team were all questioning whether or not Kroening would be able to withstand the extreme endurance test since it had never been done by a transplant recipient.
"It was probably the most exciting and most emotional thing that I've ever done. I've played sports on teams, I've won tournaments and won games and won league championships, but nothing compared to that," he said.
Kroening credits Hawkowsky, Reiss, the cardiology team at the University of Alberta and his own family for his achievements.
"You couldn't ask for a better bunch as far as I'm concerned," he said.
Kroening is also an active member in the Canadian Transplant Association, World Transplant Games and the Good Hearts Mentoring Foundation.
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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. Organs can save lives, corneas renew vision, and tissue may help to restore someone's ability to walk, run or move freely without pain. Life Begins with You
