Organ donors, recipients raising awareness at Hood to Coast
PORTLAND, Ore. – Laura Ellsworth was a high school senior when she found out her kidney was failing.
“I was just tired a lot,” she said. “I couldn’t keep up with my friends. I couldn’t stay up all night, you know?”
Five years later, when she became gravely sick, Ellsworth’s father gave her one of his kidneys. He has since died of skin cancer, but Laura knows she has a piece of her dad with her all the time.
“That’s been pretty heartbreaking but his kidney’s still in me and doing its job,” she said.
Friday, more than 1,000 teams will hit the pavement in the 31st annual Hood to Coast Relay. Ellsworth is one of 12 organ donors and recipients who make up the Transplant Trotters, a team that takes part in the relay to raise awareness about the need for more organ donors.
“We have very distinctive shirts with organs with feet on them,” said Ellsworth.
According to Donate Life Northwest, a nonprofit organization that promotes organ donation and sponsors the Transplant Trotters, 854 Oregonians are waiting for donor organs.
In the United States, a new person is added to the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) organ waiting list every 11 minutes; a list that contains more than 111,000 names, according to Donate Life Northwest.
Nicole Andergard is another member of the Transplant Trotters. She donated her kidney to her best friend, Anna, five years ago.
“Every time she went through dialysis she was losing her battle a little more each day,” Andergard said.
Andergard said she wants people who are considering organ donation to know that surgery didn’t affect her health. She said she was back to her old self after her recovery.
“That’s really what transplantation is all about,” Ellsworth agreed. “I just returned to my normal quality of life.”
The Transplant Trotters placed 11th out of 100 coed walking teams in 2011.
“That’s pretty darn good for a bunch of people with spare parts,” Ellsworth said.
I am a walker on this team and we are doing the Portland to Coast, not the Hood to Coast. Not sure where the confusion came from initially, but there it is. The Transplant Trotters have never done the Hood to Coast, not that we may not give it a try some year!Â
 @Lolo While he deleted the comments, I find it amazing the guy claiming to be the photographer on this story was the one blasting us who read & watched to see you are walkers of the Portland to Coast.  Seriously questions the credibility of the station. Â
Congrats & all the best to you & your team. Â KATU bad reporting should not take away from the important thing you are doing. Â
I have been an organ donor since I first got my drivers license. It was a no brainer for me. I assumed everyone did it.
Until EVERYONE QUALIFIES for transplants I WILL NOT DONATE MY ORGANS or "O" Negative blood.
 @August100 That is a very selfish statement. Â
Hope they stay on the sidewalks! Had enough of them believing they are invincible walking on the roadways!
 @jpk In many places along the route, there are no sidewalks, so we must walk on the road.
Brilliant reporting. Â "Walking teams", that's Portland to Coast NOT Hood to Coast.
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 @mikephotog Might want to check yours...  http://www.portlandtocoastwalk.com/Â
 @quackerbacker  @SerenityWow Watch the video - they talk about walking it, and then they show them training - they are walkers, not runners.
@quackerbacker You can also watch the video. When she holds up their team shirt it says " Portland to Coast"
@quackerbacker 2nd to last line reads: "The Transplant Trotters placed 11th out of 100 coed walking teams in 2011."
@SerenityWow And where does it state that they were not running? Organ recipients can and do run. So please show me where it states that they are walking vs running.. I have read this article almost 8 times trying to figure out where it states that they were walking.. transplant trotters is the name of the relay group, but other than that it does not state that they were running or walking... and with it stating hood-2-coast one would assume that they were running it vs walking it (with the name portland to coast)
 @quackerbacker Hood to Coast is the run.  Portland to Coast is the walk.  This story is about walkers. Â
Actually you might want to check YOURS.. There is Hood to Coast and then there IS Portland to coast.. which starts at leg 12 of the Hood to Coast.. http://community.acsevents.org/site/TR?fr_id=42603&pg=entry READ THE LAST PARAGRAPH