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TELLING STORIES THAT WOULD OTHERWISE GO UNTOLD |
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 Can Radio Really Be Life Changing?
If you were to hear the statement: ‘Public Radio Saves Lives', you'd probably have a difficult time imagining this feat. Sure, radio can alert you to emergencies in the area, but can it really change your life?
A long distance runner for years, Bob Wheeler always had been healthy and practiced healthy eating habits. But, faced with the inherited polycystic kidney disease that claimed his mother's life, Fairbanksan Bob Wheeler knew his time would be limited. Over the last few years, his competitive running times were decreasing and his energy was being sapped. Bob was placed on the UNOS (United Network for Organ Sharing) list to be a recipient of a donated kidney, but discovered the expected wait time would be nearly three years. After Bob's wife was ruled out as a potential donor, his options grew slim.
And then late last fall, everything began to change. It was then Bob heard a story that would eventually save his life - an NPR story aired on KUAC about an online service that claimed to match organ donors with recipients. At first skeptical, Bob shrugged off the story. But after blood work showed that his condition was worsening, Bob decided to look more closely at this new information.
Bob's skepticism subsided while researching the online program MatchingDonors.com when he found that he was matched with not one, but twenty-six potential kidney donors! Of those potential donors, six responded that they were willing to donate a kidney to him. He was overwhelmed with this sudden good fortune. Through further testing, Bob was able to find his best match and, in cooperation with the surgical team at Virginia Mason Hospital in Seattle, scheduled the removal of his two failing kidneys and the transplant surgery for late June 2007. The day before surgery, Bob took a run and set a mile benchmark time for himself: 8 minutes, 43 seconds.
It's been a few months since Bob was the recipient of this ultimate act of philanthropy. He returned to running long distances just weeks after his surgery and reports that it took him a mere 48 days to beat the mile time he logged just the day before his transplant.
Bob's story was retold on KUAC through a conversation with KUAC news reporter, Dan Bross. Bob didn't get to hear the story, though, because he and his kidney donor were meeting in Valdez. "Is it your kidney, or is it my kidney, or is it our kidney?" Bob asked his new friend whose act he describes as the greatest example of altruism. No matter what, it's a life-saving gift...and Bob credits KUAC.
Bob felt it important to bring this story to KUAC's attention for a variety of reasons; some personal and some out of concern for his fellow community members. "We have a high incidence of kidney failure in Alaska because of diabetes. You don't have to spend the rest of your life waiting," he says.
It's a powerful testament to KUAC's mission and to Bob Wheeler's trust in KUAC to retell this life-changing story.
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