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10 - PORT PERRY STAR - Tuesday, April 20, 1993 "Scugog's Community Newspaper of Choice" Urges people to fill out driver's licence donor card Resident living norm Ken Hansen Is able to live a more normal life, including being able to drive a car again, after receiving a kidney transplant in February, 1992. During Organ Donor Awareness Week, Mr. Hansen would like to share with everyone the importance of fill- ing out the organ donor card printed onthe back of driver's li- cences. Fencing RR1, 578 Regional Road Eight West Uxbridge, Ontario LIP 1R] Tel (416) 852-7653 Fax (416) 852-7653 Specialists in High Tensile Fencing, Livestock Watering and Rotational Grazing Systems ATTN: FARMERS & FENCING CONTRACTORS Consulting ¢ Design Installations Wholesale ¢ Retail Distribution Call Today............... To Discuss Your Requirements ... Where Quality, Service and Integrity Meet!!!!/ By Julia Dempsey Port Perry Star Ken Hansen owes his life to someone whom he will never know, but who is a very impor- tant part of him. The 84-year-old Scugog Is- land resident was diagnosed as a diabetic 20 years ago. By the late 1980s, the disease had caused his kidneys to fail , For more than two years Mr. Hansen survived by undergoing home dialysis treatments every three-and-a-half to five hours. The effects of the illness and the constant need for dialysis treatments placed great restric- tions on his life. . Hansen was unable to continue working and had to give up many of his favorite pastimes. But dialysis is merely a treat- ment; not a cure. As time pro- gressed, his health did the oppo- site. In one 12-month period, Mr. Hansen was admitted to hospital 13 times. "It was really coming down to the crunch," his mother Rita re- members. And then, at 4:20 a.m. on Sat- urday, February 15, the Han- sens received a call from an offi- cial at Toronto General Hospital saying a kidney had become available for transplan- tation. Mr. Hansen was part of the MORE (Multi Organ Retrieval Experiment) program. MORE puts potential recipients through six tests. When an or- gan becomes available, it re- ceives the same tests before MORE matches it with a recipi- ent. In Mr. Hansen's case, five of the six tests were a perfect match. Because his own kidneys still produced some hormones, they were left in place. The surgeons inserted the new kidney under the stomach muscle at the front of his body. "Kidneys are the most suc- cessful transplant," Mrs. Han- sen says, adding recipients can live up to 20 years. When that organ fails, the recipient is able to undergo another transplant. - Due to protection laws, the Hansens were told very little about the donor. What they do know is that the donor was a man in his early forties who diedin a car accident. "The hardest thing I ever have had to do in my life was to write a thank-you note to the do- nor's family," Mrs. Hansen says. "There is no way to express the gratitude we felt. I still get tears in my eyes when I think about it. Because he (the donor) cared enough, Kenny has a life." If he was able to, Mr. Hansen says he would tell the donor just how thankful he is of his gene- Jost: "I'd be very, very thank- April 18-23 is Organ Donor Awareness Week. SERIE Authorized Dealer * Sikkens b hcg Cetol 1 & Cetol 23 To Protect the Natural Beauty of Your Exterior Woodwork * Specially formulated to repel water. * Effectively penetrates and protects wood surfaces. PAINT & WALLPAPER 295 Ritson Rd. S., Oshawa 434-3939 C IEE (ela d iY oS Port Perry 985-4910 al life thanks to transplant As part of an awareness cam- paign, a large donor card began a crogs-country 'journey in St. John's, Newfoundland at the end of March. Mr. Hansen will be in attendance on Saturday, April 24 when the donor card re- lay stops at Queen's Park in To- rontoat11la.m. oo The Trans-Canada Miracle of Life Relay will continue west and arrive in Victoria, British Columbia in time for the open- ing ceremonies of the IX World Transplant Games on July 5. At present, more than 2,200 Canadians are waiting for or- gan transplants. Mr. Hansen is living proof of the good that can come of a trag- icsituation. He would like to en- courage people to consider sign- ing their organ donor cards found on the back of their driv- er's licences. Bought house for the view Letters to the editor To the Editor: oy J Open letter to Mayor Howard Hall. My wife and I, daughter and her husband and two teenage children reside in two houses = situated on our property on' Line 12. We also have seven. regis- tered horses, 12 registered-po- nies and six registered minia- ture horses. Our concern is that living right across from the prosposed Operating Engineers Heavy Construction Training School we will be directly affect- ed by the noise, dust, lighting and increased vehicle traffic caused by the operations of the school. oF Our view of Blue Mountain that dominated the landscape is one of the reasons we purchased our property in 1971. We are also able to enjoy the wildlife, deer and many species of birds that inhabit the property across the road. All of this adds to the sense of living in a quiet restful rural ag- ricultural area, one that my wife and I expected to enjoy now that I have retired after 32 years working as a firefighter. This letter is written as a re- quest that my family be given the opportunity to make a ver- bal statement to Scugog Coun- cil at the meeting which will consider approval of the pro- posed zoning by-law change. I would expect that advance no- tice of the date of the council meeting will be given to me so that my family can be sure to at- tend. Respectfully, Frank Gordon, R.R. 3, Uxbridge, Ont. BUSINESS COMPUTERS FAMILY COMPUTERS New or Used Get the Full Package All Major Packages Hardware » Software » Tutoring Setup « Support & Service Call WILLIAM M. SANDIFORD WILLIAM M. SANDIFORD JR. A r-- a SE ra Ty TT i --_--,----