Blessed
Transplant Games Celebrate Second Chances
By Ray Mernagh

Any day you can read a sports page and find a story about an athlete getting a second chance. Not today.

This story isn't about athletes so unaware of how blessed they are that they take their multi-million dollar contracts for granted by committing transgressions off the field. Nope.

This story IS about an incredible group of athletes getting a second chance, but that's where the similarities between the two groups end.

The athletes in this story got the ultimate second chance -- thanks to organ donors -- through lifesaving transplant operations. Nikki McKenna and Scotty Johnston are two local athletes who will compete July 11-16, along with 2,000 others, in the 2008 U.S. Transplant Games in Pittsburgh. This is their story.

FAMILY AFFAIR

Ninth-grader Nikki McKenna was at cheerleading practice when she noticed her ankle was extremely swollen.

"I didn't recall doing anything to injure it," says McKenna, "but thought maybe I twisted it or did something while practicing."

McKenna put ice on the ankle and tried to stay off it as much as possible. Soon, however, she noticed a problem. Not only did the swelling in the first ankle not go down, but the other ankle started to swell up too. Her parents thought they should get the situation checked out so they called and made an appointment with the family doctor.

"I think that as soon as I showed the doctor my ankles she knew it was something much more serious than just a sprain," says McKenna.

The doctor ordered a series of blood tests and an EKG. The next day, McKenna got a call at school from her mother saying that she had to go back to the doctor immediately after school. In the same office, for the second day in a row, the doctor explained the results of the blood tests to McKenna and her mother.

"She told us I had kidney disease," says McKenna. "I really wasn't sure what that meant exactly but I remember my mom crying and I knew that wasn't good."

McKenna was put on medication called prednisone, instructed to follow a low sodium diet, and sent to a nephrologist at Children's Hospital to pinpoint the exact kind of kidney disease she had.

A kidney biopsy found that McKenna-who was diagnosed on her 14th birthday-suffered from a rare type of kidney disease called Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis (FSGS). Doctors explained to the then 14-year-old that she would need a kidney transplant at some point in the future. FSGS moves slowly by scarring the kidney tissue, allowing protein to leak into the urine, which damages the kidneys.

How did McKenna get this disease?

"They weren't exactly sure," she says, "but thought that maybe I got it from a form of strep throat that settled in my kidneys."

Her life, and the life of her family, was soon consumed by her disease.

Everyone's schedule revolved around her medical appointments. Her whole family changed their eating habits to fit into the parameters of her special diet. McKenna was surprised that as sick as she was, she didn't actually feel "sick" much at all.

"I didn't have a temperature and I wasn't nauseated," says McKenna.

But the disease was hard to ignore because its effects were always staring back at her in the mirror.

"I noticed that my body started to swell," says McKenna. "First it was my face (from the prednisone) then it was my legs, ankles and stomach."

And soon it became hard for the once-active teenager to do the most basic daily activities because of fatigue. Instead of getting ready for her next softball game McKenna was going to multiple doctor's appointments each week and dealing with the extra 60 pounds of water weight that had been added on to her once petite frame.

McKenna is still thankful for the support she got from family, friends and teachers during this rough stretch.

"My friends never judged me," says McKenna, "no matter how different I looked or how sick I got, they always kept me involved."

Even though she couldn't participate physically, McKenna remained a part of various teams. Then, one day, the news came -- her kidneys had failed.

McKenna checked into the hospital and was fitted with a catheter so she could begin dialysis. She went to dialysis three times a week, four hours at a time, for almost three years. During this time she graduated from high school with high honors and got accepted at the University of Pittsburgh.

"Within those years I never received a call for a transplant," she says, "so it was time to seek an alternative."

It was determined that her dad was a match, and they both prepared for the transplant together.

"We had two months," says McKenna, "so my dad and I walked everyday to make sure we were physically fit."

The transplant took place on September 29, 1998, and was a resounding success. McKenna, now 29-years-young, will compete with all her heart-in four separate events-as part of Team Pittsburgh in the upcoming Games.

YOUNG WARRIOR

Scotty Johnston exhibits so much heart as the goalie for his youth hockey team that it's sometimes easy to forget that his original heart's defects almost killed him.

Diana Johnston, Scotty's mother, remembers the initial shock that she might actually lose her beautiful newborn son. It wasn't when the doctors explained that the left side of Scotty's heart wasn't developed, or that the right side was also defective.

"When they asked if we wanted him baptized before he was transported," says Johnston, "I realized that I might be losing my precious baby that I just gave birth to. Within minutes the priest came and the transport team came. My baby was on his way to Children's."

Things at Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh seemed dire. Staff there counseled the Johnston's about possibly putting Scotty into what they termed "Compassionate Care" - this meant letting Scotty go. Instead, Scotty's parents, with the help of a family friend that worked in the hospital, fought for Scotty to be put on a transplant list. Doctors finally agreed to put him on the list, but confided that they weren't expecting a heart to become available before Scotty passed.

Scotty spent 13 days in the NICU unit, his condition so bad that he couldn't even be fed because of the stress it would put on his heart.

The courageous little boy clung to life, even as his parents were told more than once that it was "OK to let him go."

Diana Johnston remembers Day 14 as if it were 30 seconds ago.

"I remember I was resting my head on his bedside," she says, "when his transplant doctor walked in, put his hand on my shoulder, and said 'we've got a heart.'"

Diana Johnston says that each day she gives thanks for the donor family, praying that they've been blessed.

Scotty? He's a soon to be 10-year-old that loves riding his bike on the trails of North Park and making saves in goal with his blocker pad.

He'll ride in a bike race and run the 50 meters at the Games.

Recently, he stopped his bike, looked over at his Mom and said, "You know, life is good."

He's blessed…and he knows it.