Kari's Klimbers raised nearly $30,000 for the Respiratory Health Association of Metropolitan Chicago at the annual Hustle Up the Hancock stair climb on Sunday, Feb. 24. This brings the total raised by Kari's Klimbers to nearly $200,000.
Kari's Klimbers honors Kari Westberg, who died April 7, 2000, at the age of 17 of a subarachnoid brain hemorrhage. Westberg's family honored her wish and donated her organs, with her lungs going to Steve Ferkau of Chicago, Ill. (For the complete story see the Feb. 21 issue of the Algona Upper Des Moines.)
Ferkau was joined by Westberg's former volleyball teammates, Wendy Divis, Katie Omdahl, Alex Redenius and Samara Trenary.
"At the climb, Katie, Samara, Wendy and Alex were nuts. They pretty much defined the word joy before and during the climb," stated Ferkau in an email to Westberg's family. "At one point they were cheerleading - running up and down my line of 85 team members, hootin' and hollerin' and giving everyone high-5s.
"I was interviewed by NBC for broadcast later - it was only on the 5 p.m. news, but it was a nice little interview and they showed my pictures of Kari and let me talk about her. The whole interview, my four Iowans were behind the cameraman and reporter so that I could see them - jumping up and down, making faces, doing acrobatics - they were trying to make me laugh or crack up - I managed to keep my composure, though it wasn't easy."
According to Ferkau, the transplant means the respiratory issues involving cystic fibrosis are cured, although he still has cystic fibrosis and it does impact other areas of his body.
"I still have digestive and intestinal issues, my pancreas doesn't produce needed enzymes," stated Ferkau. "However, my lungs are no longer CF lungs. CF will not return to my new lungs. CF is genetic and my new lungs are not my genes, they are Kari's genes."
Ferkau takes 17 medications every day, a total of 35 pills. Three of those medications are immunosuppression drugs to keep his immune system from recognizing and battling Westberg's lung tissue, but it also opens him up to infections and cancer and makes any cold or flu that much more dangerous. His insurance covers most of the $25,000 annual cost of the medications with his co-pay running about $3,000 a year.
"A lot of doctors like to remind us that transplant isn't so much a cure for a disease, as it is an exchange for another disease, the disease of transplant and immunosuppression," explained Ferkau.