The 1/2 Marathon Walker

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Today, June 16, 2015, marks my 2 ½ year anniversary of my double lung transplant. We didn’t know my surgery would result in a 6-week hospital stay and that the complications post-surgery would be very difficult and puzzling for my medical team to figure out. A few weeks after the surgery, I had a tracheotomy and that allowed the ventilator to come out of my mouth so I could eventually eat again and start physical therapy. Finally, 26 days after surgery, I achieved a major accomplishment: I did an entire lap around the ICU floor. All the nurses and staff were cheering me on (I was in ICU for such a long time, I think almost everyone knew me) and though it was one of the hardest things I had ever done, that lap was a turning point in my rehabilitation.

And that feeling of exhausted determination, of not wanting to go on but knowing that there was no other way than to continue putting one foot in front of the other, was echoed this past weekend when I walked 13.1 miles in the Seattle Rock & Roll ½ Marathon. It marked the end of 3 months of training with UW’s Team Transplant, an inspiring group of all organ transplant recipients, caregivers and medical professionals. I am proud of myself, I am humbled by all the love and support I’ve been given, and I’m looking forward to my next challenge, whatever that may be (right now, it’s surviving the summer with the kids and no scheduled camps!).