We enjoyed a great evening of dinner and fellowship provided by Altrusa International of Temple, Texas.

In addition to talking about living kidney and liver donation, I was able to meet the family of fellow rider Chance Sebek for the second time. Chance also rode with me in on the last ride, TOT 4.5.

Their daughter, Rowan was born with Biliary Atresia, something I’ve learned a lot about the past 4 months.

Chance Sebek

Parent of a Recipient

Belton, TX

“My wife, Megan, and I welcomed our first child in 2010. After an uneventful pregnancy and birth, she immediately made her way to the NICU. Our baby girl had a Biliary Atresia, a rare liver disease that affects bile transportation due to scarring and blockages. At two months old, a surgery called the Kasai Procedure was performed in attempts to remove the damaged bile ducts and replacing them with a re-routing of small intestine. The surgery was not successful in restoring any viable function for our daughter and after she began to quickly decline requiring tube feeding, hospitalizations and IV nutritional therapy.

Both my wife and I are nurses, so we knew very well the medical aspects of what was happening, but we were blindsided that it was our baby who was sick. She was transferred to Texas Children’s Hospital for liver transplant evaluation. Her condition continued to decline until November 29, 2010 when she received her perfect gift – a liver transplant, from an unknown donor.

We are forever grateful for this miraculous gift. She has been admitted only two other times since receiving this transplant over 11 years ago. Now, we have a beautiful nearly 12-year-old who is in middle school and very active in her club swim team. We have had the amazing opportunity to attend the Transplant Games in 2018, and look forward to participating in summer 2022.

Over covid, I took up cycling and have been riding ever since. Our daughter heard of the Lone Star Circle of Life Team through her school counselor and it is my honor and privilege to ride on her behalf and that of her donor and donors everywhere. As nurses we are able to use this experience of our life to share with others personally and professionally and I am very excited to ride in this year’s event.”