Drive for Five: Game Time

The scene is a Saturday flight to Texas with wife and son to hook up with daughter and drive to San Antonio to watch the Buffs bumble in the Alamo Bowl. Altitude is reached. The ride’s bumpy as your scribe gazes into 2025 and ponders how "Drive for Five" can thrive in the coming year.

The vision is clear: Encourage others to achieve goals and overcome challenges using sports as the connector, education the ignitor and saving lives the inspiration. America has a growing kidney challenge. Far too many of us have high blood pressure, diabetes and excessive weight. The kidney killers.

How to use the community bonding of sports to awaken folks to realize we’re headed for turbulent waters with end-stage renal disease. We need less sufferers. We also need more folks to realize, like my incredible donor Cathie Hitchcock, “Hey, I can live just fine with one kidney. There’s more and more folks afflicted. I can help them through sharing my spare.”

Looking into the coming year’s crystal ball?

DFF sees working closely with the Living Liver Foundation in expanding Liver Donor Awareness Games (LDAG) to more professional and collegiate baseball parks. Liver recipient David Galbenski hatched the idea, has a proven model in working with the Reds, Phillies, Braves, minor league clubs and the Wake Forest baseball program. Why not all MLB teams?

The powerful visual of a live donor throwing out the ceremonial first pitch to their recipient? Tossing the gift of life toward someone praying for a new lease of it? That’s the cherry on top of a fun day at the ballpark where the health care community, donors and recipients are celebrated in grand style. Life too.

Thousands in attendance experience the joy of one human being helping another. Maybe a few will walk away encouraging themselves, “I can do this!” Whether the next step is getting tested to see if they can share or devoting themselves to improved wellness? To steal a baseball term, “It’s a ringing double.” DFF sees that in the ’25 crystal ball.

This 66-year-old Missourian was taught early and often, “Talk is cheap. Show me.” DFF can’t wait to work beside LLF in bringing LDAG across America in the coming years.

The same for the Transplant Games of America. Bill Ryan’s the driving force. We connected quickly given our backgrounds in sports. Another celebration of life featuring the terrific trio of health care providers, donors and recipients. It’s Olympic-style competition. The 2024 games were in Birmingham, DFF is teaming with TGA and trying to bring the games to Denver in 2026.

More than 8,000 athletes compete in 20 events. Running, swimming, golfing, ball room dancing and sports trivia just a handful. Participants vie for gold, silver and bronze. Praise pours forth for the contestants and health care community keeping end-stage renal disease sufferers alive and the transplant teams providing rebirth unimagined while in the throes of dialysis.

It’s a moment recipients never forget. Me? I was golfing with buddies in a charity event, came back to the cart and noticed a call from my AdventHealth Colorado transplant coordinator. Jessica was not happy. “Mark, I’ve been trying to reach you for an hour!”

Sorry.

I’m trying to make up for past transgressions in leading the charge to bring the 2026 Games to the Mile High City. It’s a perfect spot. The first surgeon to ever perform a kidney transplant worked at UC Health. Colorado is one of the leaders in live donors sharing spares and saving lives. Early summer in Denver and Colorado? Where to sign up?

Last but not least, DFF will continue to advocate fiercely for passage of the End Kidney Deaths Act. Congress should pass this sensible legislation saving thousands of lives and billions of dollars of taxpayer money. https://shorturl.at/mQgoC

Coloradans are rushing to buy electric vehicles before the tax credit expires. Americans love incentives. How about the incentive of sharing a spare kidney or lobe of liver to save a life? A $50,000 tax credit over five years to offer another a new lease on this roller coaster called life.

That’s in the DFF crystal ball. Game time.