Three years ago I decided I had been talking about being a rower for too many more years than I had actually been anything like a rower and I went back to the CRASH-B Sprints. For those of you blissfully unaware of this event it is also known as the World Indoor Rowing Championships. In other words, it's essentially a seated treadmill race. It's hard for most people to imagine anything much more excruciating to either watch or do, and most people would not be wrong. However, training for and competing in the CRASH-B's has rewarded me in a very particular way - I have again demonstrated, most importantly to myself, my strength and ability to endure a fair amount of pain and reap the reward of feeling both that strange sense of achievement and being stronger and healthier every day.
In my dreams I was going to convince Mike to train for this race post-transplant. With his size and strength he would do really well. We would go to the event together, him with his new kidney and me minus one, both of us stronger for it. I've had to use that strength I've built up to re-work that dream over the last few weeks!
This year I rowed for Mike - he was not just my coxswain this year, but truly my motivation - and my parents were there with a big sign and all of you were there in my mind cheering us on and working with us to spread the word that Mike and SO MANY people like him need to find willing donors to give them the very strength they need to thrive, and maybe even to compete in future CRASH-B Sprints?
Thanks to EVERYONE for your ongoing and amazing support.
Samantha (& Mike)