SAN ANTONIO -- Next month 30,000 walkers and runners will be testing their endurance at the San Antonio Rock 'n' Roll Marathon. Among them will be a group of local organ transplant patients.
Three men training for the marathon on Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2001 are all heart transplant patients, enjoying their second chance at life due to the kindness of strangers and modern medicine. They never forget why they’re here.
“I’m living for two,” commented Zeke Arguello. “I’m living for myself and I’m also living for my donor’s family. It’s wonderful. I feel great.”
Arguello, Russ Renaud and Tom Morrissey are among the organ transplant patients who began training for the 13.1 mile half marathon back in June. They’ve worked up slowly to tackle a physical feat they didn’t know they could handle.
“Every Tuesday and Thursday we go out and we run shorter distances,” Morrissey explained. “Every Saturday we run longer distances and increase them as the weeks go by.”
“One of the biggest goals that we have is to dispel the myth that just because you’ve had a transplant, you’re limited,” said transplant cardiologist Michael Kwan. “And these guys are proving it in spades with what they’re doing here today.”
Kwan works at Methodist Heart Hospital. He said the transplant team will run and walk their way to better health by choosing to exercise their new hearts.
“I never ran before in my life and that was a first for me,” Renaud stated. “But my donor was a runner from what I understand.”
Thirteen transplant patients and their family members will be part of this unique marathon team.
The San Antonio Rock 'n' Roll Marathon takes place on Sunday, Nov. 13, 2011. These transplant recipients said they’ll be ready.
