Plover man continues journey
Voucher plan for organ donations
By Kris Leonhardt
Mark Scotch is on a journey to bring awareness for organ donation. The Plover man began this journey in September 2020.
Earlier that year, a chance encounter in Natchitoches, LA, led him to Hugh Smith, a 56-year-old retired horse jockey, on dialysis and in need of a kidney.
“Mark said, ‘If you need a kidney, I’ll give you one,’” Mark’s wife, Lynn recalled in an interview.
Mark then became a “voucher donor,” where his kidney was matched with a highly compatible recipient. He then identified Smith as the person he wanted to benefit, which moved him up on the National Kidney Register, giving him a higher priority.
The voucher program is also referred to as advanced donation, where a paired exchange may be separated by time. A national registry example of this involves a 64-year-old grandparent wishing to donate to a grandchild who has been diagnosed with kidney disease and may require a transplant in 15 years. By that time, the grandparent will be too old and will not be able to donate. The grandparent is able to donate now to a recipient, and the voucher will provide for the grandchild when he is in need of a kidney.
“Once I started looking into it and realizing what kind of shortage they have, I just wanted to do something more to get word out there,” Mark said, he said in September.
To raise awareness of the need for organ donors, Mark began a bicycle journey on Sept. 19 from Plover to Madison.
“I like to ride bike, so I decided, selfishly, that I was going to ride to Louisiana, because I wanted to go see Hugh anyway after I had surgery. So, I decided to put the ride together,” he explained.
Mark was joined by donor family members, family, and friends. They made a stop at the Central Wisconsin Gift of Life Legacy Garden in Wisconsin Rapids, and then made a stop in Portage, before heading to the Restoring Hope Transplant House near Madison.
On April 24, he will continue the journey from Madison, traveling along the Mississippi River to arrive in Louisiana by May 15.
“I’ll ride to Dubuque then, on to Moline, etc…,” Scotch explained.
“We have plans on Hugh connecting with me a couple of miles short of Natchitoches and then riding in with us through town to Cane River Brewery, where we met a little over a year ago. We have a celebration setup that will include the naming of two new brews made with the hops from Wisconsin that I was selling minutes before Hugh and I met.”
Scotch made his pay-it-forward kidney donation last fall, which he said went well.
“During my evaluation last summer the transplant team noticed what they thought was a possible heart concern but an additional test performed at the Stevens Point Hospital produced a clean bill of health for me and my donation surgery was completed September 30. My recovery was totally uneventful,” he said.
Scotch’s donated kidney went to a recipient in New York, while Smith received his voucher kidney in February.
“(After) a COVID- related delay Hugh received his kidney February 18. His recovery has been uneventful as well and he’s itching to get back on the golf course. He turned in his home dialysis equipment a couple weeks after surgery, after he hadn’t used it during that time,” Mark stated.
Scotch said that it was important for him to continue the cross-country trip to make the donation experience public.
“The main thrust of us making this donation journey public is to share what we learned about kidney transplants. We hope by sharing our story we create just enough curiosity that people will want to learn a bit more to be able to in turn share the knowledge with others so we all can help to save a few lives, one person at a time. I hope we can help reduce the number of 13 people dying every day due to lack of transplants,” he explained.
And, the awareness journey appears to be effective, as Mark’s wife Lynn awaits her opportunity to donate as well.
“Mark did his research on living kidney donations; he shared with me what he was learning. I was able to go with him the day he had his full-day evaluation at UW-Madison, and observe firsthand that experience. At that point, understanding that a living kidney donation literally meant life for the recipient and very minimal effects on the donor, there didn’t seem to be any reason not to go through the process myself to determine if I would be an eligible donor,” she said.
To follow Mark’s ride, find “The Organ Trail” on Facebook. For more information on organ donation, visit www.donortodonor.net.