Giving thanks with all of her heart

Danette Goulet

Just four years ago, Inger Jessen couldn’t walk from the car into her

Huntington Beach home.

Now, a gold and bronze breaststroke medalist, Jessen is raising money

to go back for another gold in the 13th World Transplant games, which

will be held in Kobe, Japan, this summer.

Jessen, 59, traded in her failing heart four years ago for that of a

19-year-old who died tragically in a car accident. In appreciation of

that gift and her renewed health, Jessen competed in the World Transplant

games two years ago in Budapest.

“It’s showing the world what you can do -- to thank the family just

getting in there,” she said.

Determined to see Jessen compete again, the women at the YMCA in

Newport Beach, where Jessen trains three times a week, threw a luncheon

for her Friday to raise money for her trip to Japan.

“She has been in my class, we know her story, we know her son, it’s

really what the [YMCA] is all about,” said Pepa Dodge, Jessen’s water

aerobics instructor. “[The YMCA] is about helping each other, loving each

other, being there for each other and supporting each other.”

At a cost of $3,000, Jessen was not sure that she would compete this

year.

“At the YMCA all the ladies said we made up your mind for you,” she

said. “It’s not only about me, it’s about donor awareness because we’re

really short of donors.”

Currently, 77,330 people in the United States are waiting for a

transplant of some kind, according the United Network for Organ Sharing.

More than 4,000 of those patients are waiting for a heart and more than

49,000 need a kidney transplant.

The World Transplant games, sponsored by the National Kidney

Foundation, are not only a celebration of life but also a call for help,

Jessen said.

This year, 64 transplant recipients from California to New Jersey,

Minnesota to Texas will travel to Kobe to compete in a myriad of games

including golf, tennis, volleyball, cycling, and bowling.

There will be participants from more than 40 different countries. By

competing, they will raise awareness about what being an organ donor can

truly mean.

Jessen has survived the same coronary artery disease, which took her

father and her son at the age of 30.

She lives life with a renewed energy. She suffered her first heart

attack 20 years ago, and now is able to train at the YMCA three mornings

a week and at the pool at Corona del Mar High School three evenings a

week.