Hundreds put on their running shoes to honor, celebrate, and raise awareness for organ donation
Live on Nebraska Rally for life 5K 2022
PAPILLION, Neb. (KLKN)- For the first time since 2019, Live on Nebraska hosted it’s Rally for Life 5K walk and run to raise awareness for organ and tissue donation.
Transplant recipients, donor families, living donors, medical transplant teams, and all those who work in the donation or transplant field were recognized, celebrated and honored.
Over 1,000 people from 12 different states, ranging from babies to 94 years old, put on their running shoes to honor and remember organ donors. Despite all of the challenges over the last few years, 2021 was a record year for organ donation. Nebraska donors broke records and made 273 transplants possible. For the first time in history 40 thousand organ transplants took place in the United States last year. People came from far and wide to honor and celebrate on Sunday, September 4th.
“My Friend Tyler is a two time transplant recipient, and this is kind of his first race back to being himself again. A group of us friends from college all signed up to support him, and to support the mission of this great cause,” said Garret Mueller first place runner.
For some this 5K was a journey. A journey to reflect on how their life was save by their donor, or a journey for families to carry on the legacy of their loved one.
“My dad had a liver transplant back in 1999, non drinker, non smoker, just one of those bad weird things that happened. He passed away last year in July. So as a family, we came together. I live down in Oklahoma and drove up and we’ve got about 8 of us today,” said Ty Cerny.
There were 57 teams all together. Most of them made shirts to honor the person who brough them there.
