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West Milford Man Who Owes Life To Organ Donation Joins Team Liberty at Transplant Games of America

Double transplant recipient and West Milford resident, Michael Strusiak, will join more than 20 others from New Jersey at this year’s Transplant Games of America, which celebrates the life-saving gift of organ and tissue donation.

The 2014 Transplant Games of America will be in Houston July 11-15.

In September, 2007, Mike received the gift of life. Since he was 13, Mike suffered from diabetes. At a routine doctor visit, he learned his kidneys were failing, not because of his diabetes, but from kidney cancer. After 11 false alarms, Mike received not only a kidney transplant but a pancreas transplant as well.

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“It’s the greatest gift anyone could ever receive,” Mike said of his transplant. “Organ donation truly saves lives.”

Since then, Mike has dedicated himself to spreading awareness about the gift of organ and tissue donation. As a part of that dedication, he is one of the managers of Team Liberty, a group of transplant recipients, living donors and donor families from New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. The team this week heads to Houston for the Transplant Games of America.

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The Transplant Games of America is a multi-sport festival event that highlights the critical importance of organ, eye and tissue donation. Transplant recipients, living donors and donor families come together to honor those who gave the gift of life; and to celebrate those who received a second chance at life.

At previous Transplant Games of America, Mike has won medals in golf and basketball. To honor his donor, Kristen Theresa O’Hara, a 19-year-old killed in a car accident, he put the basketball medal on her memorial quilt at the NJ Sharing Network headquarters in New Providence. Mike received his transplant in 2007.

Team Liberty, a program of NJ Sharing Network, the non-profit organization responsible for recovering organs and tissue  in Central and Northern New Jersey, comes together at the Transplant Games of America, and year round, to promote the success of organ transplantation, and to raise awareness for the urgent need of organ and tissue donation. Nearly 5,000 people in New Jersey are waiting for life-saving organs.

Team Liberty honors the legacy and generosity of donors and their families. The men, women, and children of Team Liberty embody incredible spirit, courage, energy, inspiration, humor, sportsmanship, and friendship.

To learn more, get involved and register as an organ and tissue donor, visit www.NJSharingNetwork.org or call NJ Sharing Network at 1-800-742-7365.

About NJ Sharing Network

NJ Sharing Network is a non-profit, federally designated organization responsible for the recovery and placement of donated organs and tissue for New Jersey residents in need of life-saving transplants. NJ Sharing Network partners with Donate Life America, a not-for-profit national alliance that drives communities to increase their numbers of registered donors. NJ Sharing Network honors those who gave, pays tribute to those who received, offers hope to those who continue to wait, and remembers the lives lost while waiting...for the gift of life.

 

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