How are other loving husbands expected to compete with someone like Kalaheo’s Chris Webster? While most men think of flowers, champagne, candy, a romantic dinner out or a quiet evening at home as appropriate Valentine’s Day presents, Webster gave his
How are other loving husbands expected to compete with someone like Kalaheo’s Chris Webster?
While most men think of flowers, champagne, candy, a romantic dinner out or a quiet evening at home as appropriate Valentine’s Day presents, Webster gave his wife something really from the heart.
Or, actually, a few inches lower than the heart.
On Valentine’s Day 1995, Webster gave his beloved wife Sandy Webster the gift of continued life, one of his kidneys.
It was actually her second gift, with her first kidney donation coming from her father in 1977, after she was diagnosed in 1973 with a rare kidney disease, Henoch-Schoenlein Purpura.
“I had spent 6 months on dialysis before my father was able to donate a kidney to me in November 1977,” she said.
Leading an active and normal life since then, Webster, who works as a civilian employee at the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility, gives thanks every day for the extension of life afforded her by those men who love her enough to have given a physical piece of themselves to her.
And now, she’s going for the gold, competing in singles and doubles tennis events this week at the 2002 U.S. Transplant Games, open to anyone who has received a heart, kidney, liver, lung or pancreas.
Her doubles partner, an O’ahu woman, is also a kidney recipient, said Webster, who left Kaua’i last Friday for the trip to Disney’s Wide World of Sports in Orlando, Fla.
Chris Webster had to stay on Kaua’i to run the family business.
Sandy Webster won double gold at the 2000 games, and has competed in the U.S. Transplant Games since 1994. This year marks the fifth time Team Hawaii participates.
Even though advancements in transplant medications and technology mean greater likelihood of finding suitable donors and having successful transplant outcomes, the plain truth is that people on waiting lists for organs die every day for lack of suitable donors.
Nationally, 15 to 16 people die every day while waiting.
There are currently more than 79,000 Americans on waiting lists to receive lifesaving transplants. As of April, there were 347 Hawai’i residents, including some from Kaua’i, waiting for lifesaving organs.
Webster will always remember the kindness of strangers, as “when the news got out that I needed help (for the second kidney), a handful of people I hadn’t ever met, complete strangers, also volunteered to be tested.
“That is something that I’ll always remember,” she said. “My sister proved to be the best match, but just weeks before the surgery she found out that she was pregnant. Next in line was my husband,” she recalled.
“Without hesitation, he was ready.
“Following this surgery, we took any and every opportunity to not only promote organ donation, but to inform the public that you don’t need to be blood relatives anymore,” she said. “Living unrelated donations can be just as successful,” she says from experience.
When Webster first participated in the U.S. Games in Atlanta in 1994, the number of athletes was 700, and the number of donor families in attendance less than 20. In 2000, there were 1,300 athletes and 1,100 donor families, and this year 2,000 athletes and 2,000 donor families are expected.
“I hope to come home with two gold medals, just as I did in 2000, but, more importantly, I’m attending to help raise awareness and promote organ donation,” she continued.
“Here in Hawai’i, the number of people on waiting lists for organs continues to grow, while the number of donors isn’t keeping up to help save their lives.”
As one who lives a normal life because of conscious decisions made to donate organs without which she would have died or led a much more restricted life, Webster remains eternally grateful to all families that make the decision to donate organs, especially when a family member has died.
Recently, family members of Kaua’i natives killed in car accidents made decisions to donate eyes, lungs, hearts, kidneys, and other organs so that others could lead more-normal lives.
Webster read last year in The Garden Island an article “about the loss the Nakagoshi family endured, and yet made the selflessness decision to donate their son Clinton’s organs, saving the lives of several people,” said Webster.
Nakagoshi died in a car crash along the Kapa’a bypass road, an incident that led the County Council to pass anti-caravan legislation.
“This year, I’m going to Florida with the Nakagoshi family in my heart, and the many people on Kaua’i who are waiting for their gift of life in my spirit,” she said.
“I’m very grateful that God gave me my second chance at life, and I’m taking advantage of all it has to offer. I live each day with more gratitude than I ever knew, and more joy than I thought possible,” she said.
“I want the same for everyone who’s waiting for their second chance.”
Webster is among 13 Hawai’i transplant recipients to take part in the 2002 U.S. Transplant Games, presented by the National Kidney Foundation and sponsored by Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation.
This year, local transplant athletes hail from Maui, Kaua’i and O’ahu, ages seven to 61.
“These people have all come so close to death that there was a time when some of them couldn’t walk from room to room and were planning their funeral arrangements,” said Denice Keliikoa, Team Hawaii manager.
“And now they’re leading active, normal lives. The purpose of the Games is to raise awareness about organ donation, and to show the world that transplantation does work,” Keliikoa added.
While Larry Hagman, J.R. Ewing on “Dallas,” as well as NBA player Sean Elliott, will be among the more-famous organ recipients, and Oscar “Big O” Robertson among the more high-profile donors in attendance, the Hawai’i contingent features some touching stories as well.
The Games will be very special for Frank and Jessie Ginoza, two donor family parents on the team. Their son, Steven Ginoza, died on Mother’s Day 2000 at the age of 28, and became an organ donor.
They are traveling to the Games to support their son’s donor recipients, Tony Sagayadoro and Yolanda Domingo.
Sagayadoro, 51, is participating in track and field events, and received one of Ginoza’s kidneys. Domingo, 45, received Ginoza’s heart on that same Mother’s Day.
“I would not be here today if it weren’t for Steven and his parents giving me the Mother’s Day Gift of Life,” Domingo said. “I will be forever thankful and grateful,” said Domingo, making her first trip to the Games and participating in the bowling competition.
“Steven was the perfect example of a true friend, a precious gift to all who knew him,” said his father, Frank Ginoza. “He was our special gift. Steven continues to be a gift that keeps on giving.”
The 2002 U.S. Transplant Games aim to call attention to the desperate need for more organ donors in this country, while showcasing the success of transplantation.
Staff Writer Paul C. Curtis can be reached at mailto:pcurtis@pulitzer.net or 245-3681 (ext. 224).
