MILWAUKEE — Just before noon Tuesday, the Lake Express ferry pulled into the Port of Milwaukee from Michigan, bringing home Mark Scotch of Plover.
What You Need To Know
- Mark Scotch, 65, of Plover, Wisconsin, is nearly finished with a 1,600-mile bike ride
- The ride is to help bring awareness to the importance of kidney donation
- Scotch is a living kidney donor and is encouraging others to donate as well
- There are more than 100,000 people on the transplant waiting list, according to the Living Kidney Donor Network
“It was windy and really rough. Choppy,” Scotch said of the lake conditions.
24 days prior, Scotch started a nearly month-long, 1,600-mile trek to Wisconsin from Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts.
He biked nearly 65 miles a day on what he calls the “Organ Trail," in hopes to spread the word about the importance of live organ donation, specifically kidney donation.
“13 people die every day because they don’t get a kidney,” Scotch said. "That just struck me.”
He first learned that statistic last year while on vacation.
He met a stranger in a Louisiana brewery, and after chatting for a few hours, the man, Hugh Smith, had to go.
It was when Smith was leaving that he told Scotch he had to do his nightly dialysis.
It was right then when Scotch said he decided he wanted to donate his kidney.
“I just figured that somehow, people who needed a kidney got one,” Scotch said. "I thought that maybe deceased donation was enough, but it’s not.”
Scotch wasn’t a match for Smith, but he was able to donate through the voucher program, where his kidney was matched with someone else in need.
According to the Living Kidney Donor Network, more than 100,000 people are on the waiting list, which has doubled in the last 10 years.
New to that list is Mike Graf of Appleton, who greeted Scotch when he got off the ferry Tuesday morning.
Their sons used to be classmates.
“I was diagnosed with kidney disease last January, and my function has steadily declined to where it’s not going to be long, and we’re going to be going on dialysis,” Graf said.
He hopes he can soon find a match.
“If someone would peripherally consider coming forward and considering a living kidney donation, which would certainly save my life and others,” Graf said. "There’s so many good things that come out of this.”
That is Scotch’s message with his long biking journey.
He wants to show people that being a living kidney donor isn’t all that scary.
“I wanted to demonstrate that a fat old guy can still ride a bike with one kidney for a month straight with one kidney and do it so other people can see that and say ‘hey! Maybe I can do something too,’” Scotch said.
If you’d like more information on how to become a living donor, click here.