How do you thank a friend willing to risk her life to save yours?” asks Carol Fitzsimons. it is a question she asks herself often.
Fitzsimons received a kidney transplant eight years ago. Unable to even walk her dog around the block six months before the operation, she is now a world-class swimmer.
The captain of Team Ohio, Fitzsimons has now participated in the state, national, and international transplant games. Some of her best memories include standing on the medal podium – draped in a US flag – in France, Thailand, Canada and Australia. She has even brought home five gold medals.
Swimming is her sport – and something for which she has found a passion. “The fact that i am able to train two hours a day, six days per week,” says Fitzsimons, “has been a life-changing experience.”
Life is more active than ever for Fitzsimons, who works full time as an early childhood specialist for Mt. Vernon City Schools.
Aside from her day job, she
makes it her mission to spread the word about organ and tissue donation.
Just last November, while waiting to vote in the presidential election, Fitzsimons cracked jokes to get fellow voters interested in her story. “i often resort to humor,” she says, as the subject is sometimes hard for people to swallow otherwise.
Fitzsimons adds “you never know when something you say will lead to someone making a life-changing decision.”
Despite her challenges with a kidney transplant, a painful divorce several years ago, and the loss of a child, Fitzsimons stays positive.
“it is from those events that i try to get my strength,” she says. “The one thing that motivates me is sharing my story with others.”
Her story gives hope to the thousands of people on the waiting list for a life- saving organ transplant. ▪