“Lance Armstrong is ready to swear off the chips and salsa, climb back on the bike and win an eighth Tour de France. Three years after retiring, the 36-year-old says he’ll return to competition and the Tour de France in 2009, giving up relaxed days of a few beers and Tex-Mex food for a self-described monk’s life of disciplined training and punishing races.” Read the whole story here. (Lance Armstrong coming out of retirement for Tour By JIM VERTUNO – AUSTIN, Texas (AP))

If you want to support cancer research, check out these sites:

http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/support

http://www.cancer.org/docroot/home/index.asp

http://cms.komen.org/komen/index.htm

Just another great reason to be a living donor, by Fiona McPherson:

WHEN Tracey Coull heads off for a night out, her mum, Margaret, has an unusual request to make of her… “look after my kidney.”

The mother and daughter share an extra special bond after Mrs Coull (52) offered her organ for transplant to give Tracey (27) the gift of life. Margaret Coull didn’t hesitate when doctors revealed that Tracey, who was already on dialysis four times a day, desperately needed a new kidney.

Now the family, who are gearing up for a special fund-raising event this weekend to pay a special thank you to the hospitals and medical staff who helped Tracey back to health, are urging others not to hesitate either when it comes to joining the NHS Organ Donor Register.

Both Margaret and husband Ally, an electrician, were tested and found to be a match for Tracey but, sadly, many patients waiting for a transplant are not so lucky and need the help of a stranger on the register to live. Margaret said: “When the doctors said Tracey needed a transplant, I really didn’t even think about it. There was no way I wouldn’t have done it.

“The transplant has given Tracey a new lease of life and she has never looked back.”

The family, of McKenzie Street, Findochty, believe Tracey, who is partially sighted, may have suffered kidney problems since birth, but it was only in 2003 that her health began to deteriorate and was diagnosed with chronic kidney failure.

Read more here

Check out this story:

A 24-YEAR-OLD Dundee mother-of-two has given her husband a kidney in a life-changing operation.

Suzanne and Steven Fyans have been married for almost six years and throughout that time he has suffered from kidney failure.

Five years ago he had to give up work because of the toll of the disease and the thrice-weekly trek to Ninewells Hospital for kidney dialysis when a life saving machine took over the job of cleaning his blood.

Steven (33) became a full-time house-husband and Suzanne worked full-time as a hairdresser. Now he’s hoping to get back to work and to “getting back to normal.”

It is Steven’s second kidney transplant and everyone is hoping it will be a success. In August 2001 he was given the kidney of a stranger with the agreement of the bereaved family but Steven developed a rare form of cancer associated with the transplant and it had to be removed after six months.

His brother and sister went through tests but their blood group made them unsuitable for live organ donation. He was “reluctant” to let his young wife donate a kidney but after test results showed she was a suitable match, Suzanne persuaded the man she fell for on her 16th birthday to go ahead with the operation. (read more of the story here)

Check out this article, “Hairstylist’s donation is a cut above“:

A customer typically might tip a hairstylist 15 to 20 percent. But how much does one tip for an internal organ? Clare Seibert has been cutting Molly Zaruba’s hair for more than a decade. On Jan. 10, Seibert, 39, donated her left kidney to Zaruba, 37, her friend for almost 20 years.

I encourage all of you to actively pursue the chance to be a living donor…there is nothing more precious than giving life to someone in need.

Check out this article and take the step toward being a living donor.  I donated my kidney 4 years ago to my dad, he’s still alive (and better than ever).  The gift of donation is incredible and there are so many who need help.

Why are so few people deciding to become donors? I’d like to think the primary culprit is ignorance. People don’t know how to, or simply forget to do so. There are also myths about becoming an organ and tissue donor.

I ran across this article in the Wall Street Journal (online edition):

Each year, hundreds of people decide they want to donate a kidney, not because someone they know needs a transplant, but because they want to help and don’t care who benefits. But the desire to give can be hard to fulfill because many hospitals won’t accept altruistic donors, and there are few resources to help donors navigate their options.

The hospitals’ reluctance grows from concerns that these potential donors may be psychologically unstable, likely to change their minds and, perhaps, secretly paid for their kidneys. Given the risks of the surgery, which are small but real, some argue that it …

This report surprises me and I hope it is incorrect. I know, because I’ve donated a kidney, that each potential donor would be psychologically screened (and if you’re wondering, I passed, barely, but I passed ). You can read more about the article here.