It Was One Of The Most Gratifying Experiences Of My Life

CHICAGO - For the second year in a row, the UIC softball alumni gathering took place on a beautiful September day. Flames from a variety of different eras gathered on Saturday afternoon as former All-Americans, members of NCAA regional squads and recent graduates mingled with current athletes and family members.

"It was so wonderful to have our alumni back on campus on a beautiful Saturday afternoon here in Chicago," said head coach Michelle Venturella. "It's such a great time for our team to meet the women who wore the uniform before them as well as have the alumni get to know the new faces on our team for this season. One of our alumni, as well as her parents were back to celebrate the day, but had another reason to celebrate with the UIC family."

Sarah Clynes, a record-setting pitcher and utility player for the Flames from 2006-2009, was a two-time NFCA All-Region First Team selection and was voted the Horizon League Player of the Year twice in her historic tenure.

But at the alumni gathering, Clynes celebrated a different historical feat with former teammates and friends.

In late August, Clynes was a key component of the largest organ donation swap in medical history, donating her kidney as part of complex web of 22 transplants that took place all across the country.

"It was one of the most gratifying experiences of my life," said Clynes. "To be able to donate the gift of life to someone else, there is no greater feeling than knowing you have given a person a second chance at life."

Sarah's pathway to live organ donation started much closer to home than anyone would ever want: her family.

Her younger sister, Melissa, required a heart transplant when she was only 10 days old. At the age of 16, medication required for her heart had taken its toll on her kidney, for which she received a transplant directly from her mother.

After contracting a very rare strain of a virus at 18, Melissa and the Clynes family faced the hard news in the spring of 2009 that Melissa would need another kidney transplant. This time, the search for a match was arduous.

Barnes Jewish Hospital, Melissa's healthcare providers throughout her youth, became involved in a program last year that matched current patients in need of a kidney with individuals who were willing to donate to a loved one, but were not compatible.

Loyola Medical Center in suburban Maywood developed the program that created the network which eventually grew in to the largest-ever "Kidney Swap", which saw 22 unmatched donors provide their organs to someone in need.

On the morning of August 25th, 20 years to the day of Melissa's heart transplant as a newborn, Sarah underwent a five-hour long surgery before her kidney took to the skies for a recipient in New York.

Recuperating at home with her parents, Clynes, who completed her studies while serving as an undergraduate assistant for the softball team last spring, looks forward to the next phase in her life, and has an interest in becoming an organ donation nurse.

"It's something I am passionate about," said Clynes. "I feel like being able to relate my own personal experiences to a family amidst the same ordeal will be very rewarding."

Melissa, now a student at Quincy University in downstate Illinois, is healthy for the first time and enjoying life after a successful transplant of her own, performed back in the springtime.

"With the gratitude my family and I felt for my sister's donors, it was so fulfilling to know that I was able to share the same feeling with another family who had been in the same situation as we had been," said Clynes.

"The softball program, the athletic department and more are so proud of Sarah and her family for being part of such an amazing life-changing event," said Venturella.

For more information about organ donation, please visit the following websites:
www.Nationalkidneyregistry.org
www.Lifegoeson.com

www.Organdonor.gov

www.Donatelife.net

Story provided courtesy of UIC Sports Information.