Preston holds dinner in anticipation of Transplant Games of America

For the first time in more than 20 years, the Transplant Games of America will be held close by. This year’s games will be held in Salt Lake City.

As part of the preparation, Preston will be hosting a kickoff awareness dinner on Saturday for Southeast Idaho. The dinner will bring together donor recipients, living donors and donor families from around the area, including Grace, Malad, Soda Springs and others. The dinner is to meet others from the area.

Andrea Andersen, organizer for the dinner, said there are a few reason she wanted to put it together. She hopes those who come can talk about ways to raise awareness about organ donation. They can also promote and hopefully encourage participation in the games. Andersen said she also wants to celebrate life, and celebrate the donors in the community.

That dinner will be held Saturday, March 3 at 6 p.m. at the Preston ambulance garage.

Utah and Idaho participants are combined as one team in the games – Team Utah-Idaho.

Andersen said when it comes to organ donors, awareness is important.

Those who have been recipients agree – it truly is a matter of life and death when it comes to needing a donation.

Tyson Bodily struggled for years with a kidney problem. It continued to get worse until eventually he was put on a transplant list.

“I had gotten down to six percent,” Bodily said. “That’s when I found out that my sister-in-law, Julie Sharp, had been testing and that she had proved to be a match and she had set a date and was ready to donate. I barely made it to that date before my kidney function was too low.”

So they performed the operation and completed the transplant. Now, nine months later, Bodily is doing well.

“I can never repay her,” Bodily said. “There’s absolutely no way. She gave me a chance to be with my children.”

Bodily’s story is one of many about organ donation.

The Transplant Games offers a support group for living donors, donor recipients and donor families. It’s a network of those with something in common. It also helps bring worldwide awareness to the need for organ donors.

“For the amount of people that need a kidney or other organs, there’s not enough donors,” Bodily said.

There are so many people waiting, but so few people that now about it. That’s why Andersen said she’s involved.

“Until you’ve been in that situation or you’ve been affected by organ donation, you really don’t understand,” Andersen said. “So it’s my goal to educate people.”

Andersen also has a personal connection. She battled auto immune hepatitis for years, then after the birth of her last children, she gradually got sicker and sicker. She needed a liver transplant.

“The night I got my liver, I was told I probably would not have seen a tomorrow if I didn’t get that organ,” Andersen recounted. “Because of that organ, and the gift that I received, I have been able to see a child – my oldest child, get married. I’ve enjoyed watching my children grow up.”

Both Bodiliy and Andersen say through their experiences, they are big advocates for people to at least consider being organ donors.

“There’s no better gift you can give to somebody than to give them their life back,” Bodily said.

“I’m here today because of that ‘check yes’ on the driver’s license or because a family decided they wanted to give that gift,” Andersen said.

The Transplant Games rotate around the U.S. every other year. The 2018 games will be held in Salt Lake City Aug. 2-7.

The Games feature many different competitions and other things. Andersen said one of the best parts is when teams win medals, the medals are placed around the winner’s necks by donor families. Andersen said it is a neat and very special feeling.

The 2020 Games will be in New Jersey.

Those interested in signing up for the games can do so by email at TeamUtahIdaho@gmail.com. More information can be found on the website here.