BY RAY SCHAEFER
Enquirer Contributor
FORT THOMAS -- Bill Burkart says every day of life is a bonus.
Mr. Burkart, 59, was one of 1,500 who competed in the National Kidney Foundation 1998 Transplant Games last week in Columbus, Ohio. He and partner Ronnie Allen of Louisville took the silver medal Friday in the team golf competition.
"I'm just glad to be here," Mr. Burkart said. ". . . What's fun is meeting people in the same situation you are."
Mr. Burkart, an inspector with the state Alcoholic Beverage Control department, qualified for the event in 1994, when he received a kidney from his sister, Ginny Burkart.
"I felt like I've given life, and he's a good guy to give life to," said Miss Burkart, 52, of Fort Thomas. "I thank God every day that I was a perfect match."
But to Mr. Burkart, encouraging someone to become an organ donor is worth more than a billion medals.
"I'm sure a lot of people are reluctant to do that," he said. "They wonder, "Will a doctor let me die just to get my organs?' " There are now more than 55,000 Americans on a national organ transplant waiting list, and the kidney foundation says nine or 10 people die each day waiting.
Mr. Burkart's wait ended Aug. 30, 1994.
Doctors had told him his kidney function had been growing worse since 1992 and possibly earlier. Tests showed blood in his urine, and his wife, Rita, said he was growing weaker.
"It just came one day that I couldn't do anything," Mr. Burkart said.
For five months prior to the surgery, Mr. Burkart was on a type of dialysis that required him to insert a bag of liquid through a catheter that in effect flushed out his kidneys.
He would have settled for a cadaver kidney, but Miss Burkart, an office manager at a bank, knew that wouldn't happen if she had any say.
"As soon as he said that, I told him I'd be glad to give him a kidney," she said. "I'm not married, I don't have children. I knew you only need one kidney."
Miss Burkart said she was nervous the week of the operation. "I woke up at 3 in the morning and remembered what the doctors said I'd go through," she said. "Bill asked me a couple times if I wanted to change my mind. I said, "No.' "
Mrs. Burkart, 58, said her husband is more relaxed.
"He's very emotional," she said. "He shows his feelings a lot more. He just appreciates life."
Last week was Mr. Burkart's first Transplant Games. He had never heard of the event before, but he became part of a Kentucky team that has received a total of 18 kidneys, 17 hearts, seven lungs, six livers, and a kidney and pancreas double-transplant.
"It really surprised me how many heart patients there were," Mr. Burkart said. "You would think there would be more kidneys available because a family member can give one."
Mr. Burkart and Mr. Allen shot a 64 in a match that counted only the best score at each hole. They finished second to a team from Philadelphia. "I think we used 11 of his holes and (seven) of mine," Mr. Burkart said. "I was kind of excited."
Mr. Burkart wants to become more involved in getting people to donate organs, and he is learning to appreciate small miracles and the walks with his 12 grandchildren.
"Just to see the young people at the games and to see your own children, you just thank God they're as healthy as they are and that they stay that way," he said. "Material things don't mean a heck of a lot any more."
