(CNN)

On the backside — that musky, muddy village where the horses live — she finds life, too.

“I don’t miss any days,” she said. “I love it. It keeps me busy; it keeps my mind busy. I’m not a transplant patient when I’m at the barn, I’m a trainer.”

You’ve never heard of any horse she has trained in the past. But if you’ve paid any attention at all to the runup to Saturday’s Kentucky Derby, you will hear the story of Mucho Macho Man and the little 42-year-old woman with the borrowed heart who will give the event its most human patina.

Ritvo will be going for one of the great daily doubles come Derby Day. No female trainer’s horse has won a Kentucky Derby. Only 13 others have tried in the previous 136 years of the race. Shelley Riley came within one length of history in 1992, finishing second with Casual Lies.

“I think (being a female trainer) is a little harder,” Ritvo said. “It’s kind of a man’s world. There are a lot more women who work at the track; it’s just a little bit harder, that’s all.

“Being the first would be nice; it would be great.”

And, certainly, no one before has arrived at Churchill Downs as did this South Florida-based trainer: with a transplanted heart and a horse this stout.

Just three years ago, Ritvo watched the Kentucky Derby from a Miami hospital room, viewing Big Brown’s victory through a medicated fog. And now, quite upright and active, she will take a horse to the post.

Saturday is Ritvo’s first visit to the Derby; she always said she would never go as a spectator, only when she had a horse in the race. Not being one of the designer trainers who attract all the best bloodlines, Ritvo had no reason to expect she’d ever get a worthy entry. All she had was an elusive dream.

Then, as her heart began to deteriorate — with the same cardiomyopathy that claimed one of her brothers — even that goal appeared to be gone.

Everything in her life revolved around horses and the track. Her late father was an owner, running his horses mostly in New York. One brother trains, and another rides. Her late brother also was a jockey. She met her future husband, Tim, at the track when she was just 16 and the apprentice jock offered her a ride home.

When she was only 18, Ritvo took out her trainer’s license at Massachusetts’ Suffolk Downs. In between having two children, she and Tim trained horses in South Florida and made a comfortable living. Through the 1990s, she won 150 races — seven of them stakes races — but never sniffed a chance at one of the Triple Crown races.

She began growing weaker with the new millennium and received the dire diagnosis of degenerative heart disease in 2001. Spending the next seven years in and out of hospitals, Ritvo worked infrequently. By 2008, she was bound to her bed in Miami’s Jackson Memorial.

She remembers little of watching that Derby with her doctor, but her husband recalls it more clearly: “We sat in the hospital, never thinking at all that we would ever be there one day; it was just whether Kathy would live or not.”

On November 13, 2008, a donor heart became available. To strain the racing imagery to its limits, Ritvo beat death by a nose. Doctors later told her she had no more than a week left on her original equipment.

Given her life back, Ritvo could have been satisfied quietly appreciating the reclaimed time with her family. In fact, she was advised to steer clear of the barns for fear of the grime and bacteria that come with the territory.

The anti-rejection drugs she still takes lower her natural immunity, leaving her susceptible to infections. Within six months of transplant surgery, however, Ritvo was showing up regularly at the couple’s barn. No matter how often Tim shooed her away, she just as determinedly returned. Eventually, she just wore down her husband.

“What ultimately swayed me was that she loved (training). She had a passion for it, had done it for her whole life,” Tim said. “Not being able to train horses was like not being able to live for her.”

There are strict rules and limitations to her interaction with the horses now. She no longer rides alongside the thoroughbreds on their way to or from training. When she needs to inspect horses, a handler brings them to her, outside the barn. She clears out when it is time to clean the stall.

She is more keenly aware of avoiding any sharp corners at the barn or the nipping teeth of a spirited thoroughbred (Mucho Macho Man is a bit mouthy, as they put it).

And, she said with a guffaw, “I try to stay away from big crowds. That won’t be a problem at the Kentucky Derby, right?”

A lanky colt with a patch on its face that looks a little like a lightning bolt came into the Ritvos’ life in July. Working with Suwanee, Georgia-based owners Dean and Patti Reeves, Tim Ritvo went shopping for a promising 2-year-old. Their attention went to a maiden race at Calder.

It wasn’t the winner of the race that the couple became interested in. Rather it was the fluid, long-striding place horse. They bought a 70 percent share in Mucho Macho Man for $210,000. Tim handled the bulk of training initially.

Mucho Macho Man rounded into form with his first victory in September in a maiden race and began showing promise for a lucrative 3-year-old campaign. In the fall of 2010, though, Tim took an executive position with the racing arm of MI Developments (owner of six U.S. tracks), giving up his part of the hands-on training.

At this point, with big designs for the horse, the Reeveses could have been tempted to switch to a more proven trainer, someone with experience at getting a young horse to the big stage. They received all kinds of unsolicited advice in that direction.

But, believing in a sense of stability — and in the vaguer sense that Kathy’s destiny was somehow connected to this horse — the owners never sought another trainer.

From the beginning, Patti Reeves was taken by Kathy’s extraordinary attention to detail, watching with amusement as the trainer would pick through bales of hay like a finicky produce shopper until she found the ones with just the right composition for her animal.

Initially, Dean Reeves was stunned by Tim’s decision to take the new job — “My thoughts were that Tim and I were going to carry this thing all the way through” — but he quickly shook off the angst.

“The real blessing here, a part of God’s plan, is that it put Kathy first and foremost in front of this entire deal,” he said.

The owners’ faith in Ritvo was rewarded when Mucho Macho Man won February’s Risen Star Stakes at Louisiana’s Fair Grounds, giving him the injection of graded stakes winnings needed to qualify for the Kentucky Derby field.

He has a record of two firsts, three seconds and two thirds in eight lifetime starts. He is the youngest horse in the field, a late foal who won’t actually turn 3 until after the Belmont Stakes.

What he may lack in age, Ritvo says, he more than makes up for in racing spirit.

“He’s very consistent,” she said. “He runs with his all each time he runs, very competitive. He’s still growing. After every race, it seems like he just gets taller. He’s going to do a lot more growing, too. He’s like a teenager, long and tall, and has those long, long legs. When he grows into himself, he’s going to be a big boy.”

In a 20-horse field, Mucho Macho Man demands a proportionate sliver of attention. But all those seeking a story that has more universal appeal than the time of that morning’s workout will make their way to his barn and seek out the trainer who took out a second mortgage on life.

Ritvo says she doesn’t mind the attention if it gives hope to others awaiting a transplant, if it might show someone that “you can have your life back.”

Weeks ago, her husband began preparing Ritvo for the stress of Derby week, sounding the constant reminder that this race is ultimately no different than the hundreds of others for which she has prepared — and that this moment should be treasured as a bonus regardless of how her horse may decide to run on this given Saturday.

The emotions that come with race day may be too many and too complex to completely catalogue.

“It can get pretty emotional at times. You had to live it. It’s hard to put into words,” Tim said. “She won’t play up that part of it, but there were times when you put her to bed you just weren’t sure if she would make it to the next day.”

“I’m sure there will be a lot of things playing through my head,” Kathy said of race day. “About how I wouldn’t be standing here without the donor family, wouldn’t be standing here without my family, the Reeveses, the horse, everybody. I’m just blessed to be alive, blessed to have the opportunity to train such a good horse. This is what I’ve worked for my whole life.”

Then comes the moment when the starting gate to the biggest race flies open and every trainer’s heartbeat grows stronger, thumping in time with the sound of heavy hoofbeats galloping for the first turn.

This article was written by Steve Hummer, a sports writer for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in Georgia.
This article was reposted by CNN.com
May 6, 2011
Photo by John Sommers II

When he takes the Great Basin Brewing Company stage for a special Sat., March 5, 2011 show that falls on his 49th birthday, singer-songwriter and transplant patient Brother Dan Palmer will naturally reflect on the dichotomy of two prevailing themes in his life: hope and uncertainty, a precarious, dare-to-dream way of living.

Almost two years after liver failure led to three near-death episodes — followed by three miraculous revivals — the former northern Nevadan is embracing the idea of picking up where he left off. While Palmer joyfully reclaims his life, health, love and music, it’s a razor’s-edge of simultaneously reckoning with the fact that his health can take a dramatic downward spiral, a life-and-death scenario that, ironically, would abruptly move his number up on the national transplant waiting list.

Writing, recording and performing are Palmer’s lifeblood — and a healing force that goes above and beyond a symbolic creative outlet. For his loved ones, seeing Brother Dan back onstage, entertaining and interacting with his audience, is not simply his lifeblood — it’s a true miracle for the man who was unable to speak for six weeks, who faced the threat of never singing and playing music again.

“Close to two years ago both mine & Dan’s lives changed forever,” states Melisa Maxey, Palmer’s sweetheart and caregiver, who’s been at his side every step of the way. ”I’m not sure if people really realize how far Dan has come. To see Brother Dan play, sing his own music and perform on stage with his longtime friends brings tears to my eyes. I have seen Dan on life-support, with doctors giving him no chance of recovery. I was next to his hospital bed when he opened his eyes, squeezed my hand and whispered to me ‘it’s going to be okay,’ after coming out of each of three comas. I sat in disbelief as he played his guitar and sang ‘Don’t Walk Away,’ — a song he wrote while in the hospital, still in his hospital gown, in his hospital bed. To me, Dan is a true testament of how the human spirit can overcome unimaginable circumstances. He has provided hope for so many people around the world. My wish for Brother Dan, as he continues to put one foot in front of the other, is to be surrounded by love.”  

Like an angel, Maxey will be steadfastly present when The Brother Dan Band performs a free show on Sat., March 5, 8-11 p.m. at the Great Basin Brewing Company, 846 Victorian Ave., Sparks, Nev. Palmer will be joined onstage by loyal friends Phil Prunier (guitars, vocals), Joel Edwards (sax, flute, vocals) and Gary Setzer (percussion).

Brother Dan Palmer began studying classical guitar at age 6, and has been performing since he was 8 years old. With his own discography, as well as a repertoire of over 1,000 cover songs, Palmer has opened for or played music with major-label recording artists David Lindley, Foghat, War, Men At Work, Three Dog Night, and many more. A longtime volunteer for many local organizations including the Nevada Humane Society, Burners Without Borders, and C*A*R*E* Chest of Sierra Nevada, Brother Dan is on the waiting list for a liver transplant in California, and serves as an ambassador for Donate Life. Palmer’s latest release, Fishnet Stockings, is available on CD.

www.brotherdanpalmer.com

http://greatbasinbrewingco.com/index.php 

www.caringbridge.org/visit/danielpalmer  

www.donatelife.net

 

Donation of organs, blood, bone marrow and even the stem cells contained in umbilical cord blood can help heal tens of thousands of people afflicted with terrible diseases, health officials say.

But the need for most of these donations is growing, not shrinking.

As of Feb. 10, 110,324 people were on a national waiting list for an organ donation, up more than 80 percent from the 59,862 people on the list a decade before, according to the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration.

“The gap is growing because more people are getting added to the waiting list than are donating,” said Mary L. Ganikos, chief of the public and professional education branch at the agency’s transplantation division.

Taking aim at the problem, health officials on Feb. 14 — National Donor Day — intend to urge people to:

• Fill out an organ and tissue donation card and register with their state registry for donors.
• Join the nationwide registry of volunteers willing to donate marrow and blood stem cells.
• Learn how to donate stems cells from umbilical cord blood after the birth of a baby.
• Donate blood.

Marrow and cord blood donations are growing in importance. The number of people being healed by blood stem cell transplants is increasing every year, but not enough people are registered to donate bone marrow or umbilical cord blood to provide an adequate chance for every person in need to find an appropriate genetic match, Ganikos said.

Stem cells from marrow and cord blood are primarily used to treat deadly diseases, including leukemia, lymphoma, aplastic anemia and autoimmune disorders. There were 5,228 blood stem cell transplants during fiscal year 2010, compared with 4,820 in 2009 and 2,310 in 2003, according to federal officials.

State organ donor registries have more than 90 million people on their rolls, all told, but Ganikos said that many more are needed because only a small fraction of deaths actually result in a donation. Officials hope to increase the number of registered donors to 100 million.

Currently, only whole blood donations adequately meet the needs of public health, officials report. In 2007, for instance, 15.6 million units of blood were donated, exceeding the 14.4 million units that were transfused that year, according to the National Blood Collection and Utilization Survey Report compiled by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

To close the donation gap in other areas, though, public health officials face a number of obstacles, but the main problem seems to be a lack of widespread knowledge about the need for donations and the relative ease of signing up to be a donor.

This is particularly true of donations of umbilical cord blood, which is rich in stem cells, said Nawraz Shawir, a public health analyst with the government’s Blood Stem Cell Transplantation Program.

“There is not enough awareness out there about the possibility of umbilical cord blood donation,” Shawir said. “The cord blood usually is discarded, unless the woman is aware of the great potential of this blood to help other patients.”

Likewise, many people don’t know how easy it is to sign up to be a bone marrow donor, said Nadya Dutchin, a national account executive at the Be the Match Registry maintained by the National Marrow Donor Program.

All a person has to do to become a potential marrow donor is sign a consent form and send in a cheek swab, Dutchin said. Their genetic code will be drawn from that swab and entered into the registry.

Seven of 10 people who need a blood stem cell donation cannot get one from a family member because they are not a close enough genetic match, Ganikos said. When that happens, people are forced to go to the registry to look for an unrelated donor.

Another obstacle to increasing the donor ranks is the presence of an array of misconceptions about organ, blood and marrow donation.

Some people decline to become a potential marrow donor because they believe the donation process will be painful, involving a needle stuck into their bones.

“About 75 percent of the time it’s done through a blood draw, just like at a blood drive,” Dutchin said. Marrow donors are given a medication that causes their bone marrow to overproduce stem cells, which are pushed into the bloodstream. After five days, the stem cells are collected from their blood, much like what occurs for a plasma donation. The worst a person would feel, she explained, would be a little achy or as if he or she had the flu as the stem cells accumulate in the blood.

Other people believe it’s against their religion to donate organs. “Most major religions see it as an act of charity and brotherly love,” Ganikos said. “They either encourage donation or leave it up to the individual.”

Another misconception to be countered is the notion that hospital personnel would not do everything in their power to save the life of someone registered as an organ donor because they need the donations, said Teresa Beigay, director of special donation projects for the government’s transplantation division.

“The donation does not kick in until every effort is made to save that life,” she said. “Notification doesn’t happen until after death.”

Also, people sometimes mistakenly believe that they’re too old to donate.

“Some people think when you’re over 50, you can’t be an organ donor,” Ganikos said. “There have been donors in their 90s and recipients in their 80s. We don’t want people to rule themselves out. They should register, and let doctors decide after their death if some or all of their organs are useful.”

Need for Blood and Organ Donors Continues to Grow
Many unaware of the ease of donating, and saving a life

Article written by Dennis Thompson
HealthDay News
February 11, 2011

My son, MacKenzie, died February 16th while waiting for a heart transplant. MacKenzie was 13 years old. He was born with a heart defect called Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, in other words, the left side of his heart never developed. After all 4 of his surgeries, he came out with flying colors. He was a normal little boy for 8 glorious years. The doctors were very pleased with the way his heart performed. You would have never known that MacKenzie was walking around with half of a heart. He was just like any other healthy child. He was our walking miracle.

Then in November of 2007, shortly after his 13th birthday, MacKenzie started to show signs of the flu. In early December, he was hospitalized and 2 days later the words that I never thought I would hear were said. Mackenzie’s heart was failing and he needed a transplant.

MacKenzie went on the list January 2, 2008, A1 status. He was critical. He was put on a ventilator almost immediately. We made up our own sign language and used a white board as a means of communication. Every time he woke up from a procedure he would feel his chest to see if he got his new heart and every time I had to tell him, “not yet, honey, but it’s coming, stay strong, be brave, yours will come”.

Days turned into weeks and MacKenzie wrote on his white board, ‘Mom, I know what I want to do with my life. I want to help others get their hearts.

While in the hospital, there was a young patient brought in after an accident and declared brain dead but when asked about donating his organs, his parents could not face that difficult decision and said “no”. MacKenzie died 1 week later. He was on the list for 7 weeks.

“MacKenzie, my sweet, blue eyed boy. You will be heard, not from your own voice but from the voices of your Mama, your Daddy, your sister, your brother, your aunts, your uncles, your many cousins, your Nanas, your Papas, other family and friends. We will do every thing we can do to increase donor awareness so no more families will have to endure life with the pain that we feel every moment with your absence. We will be your voice…and we will be LOUD…” 

Written by Kristen Dorn, MacKensie’s mother

MacKenzie’s family at the 2009 Annual Donate Life Walk

Lizzy Benson is spending her senior year at Wooster High School on a mission to save lives. 

Benson, 18, has been working to get the word out to students and the community at large about becoming an organ donor.

It’s her senior project and also her Girl Scout Gold Award project, but it’s also personal.

“Our family friend had been waiting for about seven years for a liver transplant,” she said. “She didn’t get it and passed away, and she was only 28. About a year later, my uncle got really sick, and his liver failed in the course of a week. He was put on the list immediately for a transplant, but he was unable to receive one,” she said.

As part of her project, Benson has been making presentations at other high schools in Washoe County and to local service clubs.

She’s also created a Facebook page and designed a pamphlet that she’s been able to place at the Department of Motor Vehicles and at the offices of several doctors in town. The pamphlet has one key message: “Donate Life: There are over 100,000 people in the United States waiting for a life-saving transplant.”

The pamphlet lists the organs and tissues that can be donated and details some of the common misconceptions about organ donation. Finally, it encourages people to become donors by checking the appropriate box on their driver’s license registration form or through a donor registry.”

Last week, Benson made a presentation to the Washoe County School Board, encouraging the board to make organ donation awareness part of the health and science curriculum.

She plans to attend Brigham Young University in the fall and major in biology with a long-range goal of becoming a physical therapist. She said she will continue her push for organ donor awareness even after her high school and girl scout projects are complete.

“I think it’s so wonderful that she is working so hard to do that,” said Debbie Pinjuv, founder of the Transplant Network and Benson’s mentor for both her projects. “With her work, she’s definitely saving lives out there.”

Benson said she feels like her presentations to fellow high school students are being well-received.

“I know as a high school student, it’s not something most kids my age really think about,” she said. “But after they hear what I have to say, I’m seeing them start to think about it.”

“I just really appreciate everything she’s doing,” said Pinjuv, who is also a transplant recipient, having received a liver in 1999. “She’s making it her cause, her mission to go out there and try to promote organ donor awareness. I think it’s wonderful. I know it will make a difference.”

Reno Gazette Journal
March 26, 2010
Teen works to raise organ donor awareness
by Guy Clifton  gclifton@rgj.com

The gift was given.  Adhering to the integrity of her life and spirit, a gift of purity and unconditional love was offered in compassion to an unknown recipient.  In silence and with reverence we had to release a part of her completely.

Of the three lives she saved, the one I carried closest to my heart was Alfredo.  He was the one I thought of when grief threatened to drown me.  Eight years old at the time of his transplant, he and his twin brother were born with renal hypodysplasia, a condition where the kidneys don’t grow with the pace of the body.  The kidneys are unable to do their job and the body fills with toxins.  As both boys became more ill, the family members were tested for organ compatibility.  The only match in the large family was the boys’ father.

A parent’s nightmare: one father with a healthy kidney to give and two gravely ill children.  And what of the bond between twins?  At eight years old, how do you watch a mirror of yourself die?  Alfredo’s brother, Jorge, became more critically ill and he received his father’s kidney.  Alfredo’s condition worsened as they prayed for a donor, knowing that someone was going to have to die before he could get well.  Alfredo was close to death.  Again, his parents were emotionally torn in the reality of transplantation.  Kristen’s donation came at the eleventh hour and Alfredo’s life continues.  The boys’ transplant surgeon said the match was perfect.
The death of a child is very insular.  You feel as though no one can understand the scope of a loss where all hopes and dreams for the future are gone in one brutal moment.  There will be no more awards, no graduations, no more opening nights.  Kristen, her dad and I will never see Italy together, we’ll never be in Paris or the Rockies again, and we’ll never know how her stories turn out.  We’ll never be anyone’s grandparents.  Everything stops with us.  Everything, it felt, stopped on April 21, 1996.

Two years later, after watching her friends from the Nevada Dance Academy perform in her honor at the California Transplant Donor Recognition Ceremony; we sat talking to Peter and his wife, Natalie.  Peter was in his fifties when his liver failed in a very short period of time.  Kristen’s donation saved his life.  At one point in the conversation, he took my hand and placed on his right side, just above his/her liver.  There are no words expansive enough for that moment.  Then we were told someone wanted to meet us.  I turned and this energetic small boy stood in front of me, radiant and smiling, with deep brown eyes.  It was Alfredo.

Kristen had a very broad definition of family, owing more to her effusive heart than her status as an only child.  Her family is more substantial now than even she could have dreamed.  Her story is now woven into the family albums of three very diverse families.  The gift has come home.  I no longer worry that Kristen will be forgotten.

The cycle of love never ends.

This article was written by Kristen’s mom Annie Norris.

My liver died suddenly for reasons that I still do not know.  In January 1998, I was healthy and active; in February I realized I was sick and on March 6^th I flew to Stanford University in California.  On March 9^th I was in a coma and placed on the transplant list.  My family gathered, but could only wait and pray.  On March 12, 1998, I woke with a new liver and a new life.

I reached out to my donor family early by most standards after my transplant.  I am so very blessed that they reached right back.  We spoke by phone and I met my donor family on the one year anniversary of my transplant.  I learned that my donor was a nineteen year old man who lost his life in a tragic motorcycle accident.  Terry Snow’s parents, John and Kathy, had never discussed organ donation with Terry.  In the midst of their own unimaginable grief, the Snow’s made a decision that would bless several families with the gift in the form of a heart, lung, kidneys and a liver.  Five families received miracles that day.  Words cannot adequately express the gratitude in my heart for my donor family. 

Since my transplant it has become my strong desire to share my experience and accomplishments as a transplant recipient.  I seek out opportunities to show how successful organ transplantation can be while raising awareness for the growing need.  My donor family is an incredible part of that outreach.  Their strength, courage and compassion are unmatched.  Kathy was a nurse at the time of Terry’s death; she is now a Renal Transplant Coordinator.  Our lives have been forever molded together.  Side by side, Kathy and I now share our collective experience and encourage families to discuss organ donation.

During one of our visits in 2001, my donor family told me about the U.S. Transplant Games.  John and Kathy have accompanied my husband, daughter and I to the games in 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2008.   I have competed in cycling, swimming and track.  With John and Kathy by my side, I was honored to receive the Jerry Cound Outstanding Female Athlete Award at the 2006 US Transplant Games.  I have been honored to represent Team USA at the World Transplant Games both in Bangkok, Thailand and in Gold Coast, Australia.  Over the past few years, I have begun competing in triathlons and hope that through my athletic endeavors, I may be able to continue to peak interest and show the success of organ donation.

We held our first Donate Life Walk in 2008.  Our goals were humble as we hoped to have 100 participants.   It became quite evident that first year that we could truly share the need while impacting our community in a positive way as over 300 people came out to support the walk.  It is my personal desire to continue to be a part of this wonderful outreach and to truly impact our community by sharing our stories, honoring donor families and showing the success of organ donation.  I hope that you will consider participating in the 3^rd Annual Donate Life Walk on May 16^th at the Sparks Marina.  

 I have truly been blessed with wonderful experiences and incredible personal recognition; however, the true heroes remain my donor family.  I hope to honor them and the memory of my donor, Terry Snow, in every aspect of my life.

Tracy Copeland