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CommentAuthoradmin
- CommentTimeSep 6th 2010
Taking the plunge back into competitive swimming was impossible for Kristin Donohue McGillycuddy until three years ago, when a double lung transplant thrust the energetic 33-year-old back into the pool to win top medals in Olympic-style games for transplant recipients.
"It's just a real happy occasion," McGillycuddy said after winning three gold medals in the National Kidney Foundation U.S. Transplant Games that were held July 30 to Aug. 4 in Madison, Wis. "It's terrific to see people — many older, too — giving it their all to show that transplants work."
McGillycuddy, a coach and swimmer with the New Jersey Waves and former Upper Saddle River resident, had the transplant surgery in September 2007 to replace organs damaged by cystic fibrosis. She was one of the earliest diagnosed cases of the debilitating, chronic disease that clogs the lungs with mucus and affects the digestive system, her family said.
McGillycuddy stroked her way to the three gold medals and a bronze at the games, which are designed raise awareness of organ donation and bring together athletes every two years who are touched by organ donations and the transplantation process, according to the National Kidney Foundation's website. More than 100,000 Americans are on a waiting list for organ transplants.
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CommentAuthoradmin
- CommentTimeSep 6th 2010
The games, which drew competitors as old as 85, are open to those who have received such organs.
McGillycuddy earned her gold medals in the 100-meter individual medley, the 50-meter butterfly and the 100-meter backstroke. She set a record in the 100-meter individual medley and also received the bronze medal for the 100-meter freestyle.
She was one of about 7,000 people — including athletes, families and friends of the donors and recipients — to attend the games.
"I started swimming very early," McGillycuddy said of her love of the sport.
McGillycuddy's parents, Gerard and Debbie Donohue, the director of psychology at Kessler Institute of Rehabilitation in Saddle Brook and a registered nurse at The Valley Hospital in Ridgewood, respectively, believed early on that swimming would give their daughter stamina.
It did more than that, McGillycuddy said.
She became swim team captain at Immaculate Heart Academy in Washington Township, where she graduated in 1995, and she continued the sport while a student at Fairfield University in Connecticut, where in 1999 she earned a degree in sociology and psychology. While in college, her conditioned worsened — something she kept hidden from her classmates who thought she had asthma.
The need for oxygen increased, and she slowly continued to lose strength as the years passed.
"I had always hoped that I could conquer it," McGillycuddy said of the disease.
By 2005, she was evaluated for a double lung transplant, and her condition was grave enough that she was placed high on the transplant waiting list. The wait for lungs would be frustrating.
"I was warned a transplant was coming," she said. "I waited actively for a year."
An ideal donor match was found, and McGillycuddy underwent eight hours of surgery on Sept. 12, 2007, at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital. Eight days later, the former Upper Saddle River resident was up and about.
In the months before surgery, McGillycuddy could barely swim 20 laps in 90 minutes. Today, she strokes 120 laps in 90 minutes, continues as a swim coach at New Jersey Wave in Paramus and runs the team at the Tuxedo Country Club in Tuxedo, N.Y.
She is determined to raise awareness about organ transplants and write an inspirational book about her experience.
"It's bittersweet," she said. "Someone has to die for someone else to live."
E-mail: coutros@northjersey.com
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