Before I can wrap up my experiences of the 2006 U.S. Transplant Games, I think it’s appropriate to tell you how I came to attend them. My outgoing archon, Barb Kirkland, called to tell me about an opportunity she thought would suit me. Apparently the Foundation felt the same way, because a few months after I turned in my application, I got a call from Katie Herschede, Transplant Games Coordinator, telling me I was selected as the Collegiate Reporter for the event.

I felt this was important for me to do – not only because I am majoring in journalism, but also because a few of my family members are experiencing problems with their kidneys. My cousin has been on dialysis a few days a week for the past few months. She’s thin and not herself; she is also on the waiting list for a new kidney. So the Games, and their meaning, hit home for me in more ways than one.

I’m writing this to you now from my home in Troy, Mich. (about 20 miles north of Detroit), and it’s taken me some time to reflect on this weekend’s events. On the flight home, I sat next to an actor from New York who was in Louisville for a wedding. I told him I was there to cover the Transplant Games. He’d never heard of them before, and had no idea that they had been going on in the same city that weekend. I explained the details of the event – but I confess I may have overwhelmed him, because I just kept going and going (there was just so much to talk about!). I was so “full” of information, I said anything and everything that came to mind. In the end, he was thrilled to know about the Games and said he would be looking for them in two years.

Now that I’ve had a day to look back and think about each event, each interview, and each person I met, I think I can describe the event even better. The Transplant Games are less of a competition and more of a celebration. Crowds in the stands cheer on every athlete, no matter how they are faring in any given event. Our sisters quickly caught the spirit of the Games. At the swimming event on Saturday, you would have seen our Phi Sigma Sigma letters everywhere – in the stands and around all sides of the pool, cheering, recording times, holding lap cards, and placing gold, silver and bronze medals around the winners’ necks once the races were over. Our sisters cheered on the swimmers by name and with enthusiasm – as if they’d known them all their lives. I even saw a few sisters reach out their hands to help the swimmers out of the water after exhausting races. I felt a great amount of pride for wearing my letters this weekend because of moments like this.

As I sat at the table tennis event Sunday morning, trying to write down some ideas for my final blog, I heard a man say, “I got eliminated, but I had fun doing it, and that’s what matters to me.” His words stuck with me, and I think they really represent the meaning of the Games!

I would like to close my final blog about the Games by thanking those that made it possible for me to be here. Thanks to Pam Downey, Foundation Director, for coming up with the idea of a Collegiate Reporter, and Nash (Nancy Hay, another Foundation Director) for telling our archon about it! Thanks to Kim Hildred (Foundation President), Heather Kelley (Foundation Director), Liz Rodriguez (Foundation Director) and Tracy Koch (Director of Housing) for helping to calm my unfounded fears about working with important Foundation and Fraternity personnel! Thanks to Katie Herschede for your great planning, organization and support of these Games!

One final, huge thanks goes to my mentor, Lisa Romero (Editor-in-Chief, The Sphinx magazine). You taught me important things about journalism and reporting, as well as about life. You volunteered three days of your life to be at the Games and to help a young journalist. I will not soon forget the things you taught me, and I hope that this weekend marks the beginning of a good friendship.

The Games will return in two years – and you can bet that wherever they may be, I’ll be there! And I can only hope that through sharing my experiences, a few of you may also be inspired enough to volunteer and attend the 2008 U.S. Transplant Games!

Fraternally,

Allison Brunner
Delta Theta ’06

P.S. Here are a few links I hope all Phi Sigs will check out:

Phi Sigma Sigma Foundation: www.phisigmasigmafoundation.org
U.S. Transplant Games: www.transplantgames.org
National Kidney Foundation: www.kidney.org
Become a Donor: www.kidney.org/transplantation/donorCard.cfm