Lynn’s Kidney Donation Journey.

4 States (WI, IL, IA, MN)

1280 miles

3 Weeks

28 Media oppertunities

Lynn donated in January of 2023 at UW Health in Madison, Wisconsin using the National Kidney Registry (NKR) Voucher Program. The NKR found the best match for Lynn’s kidney in their 103 Transplant Center network pool all across the USA to be someone in Illinois. We do not know who this person is.

Lynn then gave the NKR Voucher to 2 year old Cooper Thompson, who lives in Minneapolis. Cooper had been on dialysis since 8 months old. This gave Cooper top priority with the NKR to receive the best matched kidney for him at Masonic Children’s Hospital in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

This ride will trace the route of Lynn’s kidney going to Illinois then we head to Minneapolis, Minnesota to join with Cooper, and his family. 

We then will meet Ali Hansen, who donated a non-directed kidney at the University of Minnesota Fairview Medical Center to the same NKR network pool of 103 Transplant Centers across the nation, that somehow magically ended up being the best fit kidney for Cooper.

This will be the first meeting of all 3 players together at one time, Lynn, Cooper, and Ali.

Lynn and Cooper

Ali and Cooper

Our objective is to contact and schedule media events with all of the Transplant Centers listed below and other possible supporters like dialysis centers, so keep posted. If  you are affiliated with any of these or other kidney disease concerns along our route and want to help in setting something up, please contact me.

Likewise, if you can offer any lodging for Lynn and me along the route, please contact me as we have a number of gaps.

If you belong to organizations like Rotary, Lions, Toastmasters, Church organizations like Knights of Columbus, we have given presentations talking about our donations and have lodged with people from these groups in past rides, and we’d love to do similar on this ride.

THANK YOU!

Segment 1: Plover, WI to UW Health, Madison, WI, to Froedtert Hospital, to Aurora St. Luke’s Medical Center, Milwaukee, WI. 212 miles

1. Tues. June 4th. 8:30 Program, 9AM departure. Plover to Best Western, Portage, WI. 72 miles

2. Wed. June 5th. Best Western Portage to Merrimac Ferry, to Restoring Hope Transplant House, Middleton, WI, to Sun Prairie, WI Combined UW Health and RHTH event starts at 2pm. 51 miles

3. Thur. June 6th. Sun Prairie, WI to Milwaukee, WI. 90 miles

4. Fri. June 7th. Starting at 11am.  Froedtert, to National Kidney Foundation of WI, to Versiti, 20 miles

Segment 2: Milwaukee, WI to “The BEAN” in Chicago, to Rockford, IL, to Davenport, IA. 336 miles

5. Sat. June 8th. Milwaukee, WI to Waukegon, IL. 64 miles

6. Sun. June 9th. Waukegon, IL to Chicago . 45 miles

7. Mon. June 10th. Chicago to The BEAN. 6 miles

8. Tues. June 11th. Chicago, to UWHealth Swedish American Hospital, Rockford, IL. 97 miles

9. Wed. June 12th. Rockford to Fulton, IL 82 miles

10. Thur.. June 13th. Fulton, IL to Davenport, IA. 41 miles

Segment 3: Davenport, IA to Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN 274 miles

11. Fri. June 14th. Davenport to Iowa City, IA. 59 miles

12. Sat. June 15th. Iowa City to Waterloo. 94 miles 

13. Sun. June 16th. Waterloo, IA to Stewartville, MN. 104 miles

14. Mon. June 17th. Stewartville, MN to Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN. 16 miles

Segment 4: Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, to  Maple Grove, to Abbot Northwestern, to Masonic Children’s, to University of MN Medical Center, to Plover, WI. 387 miles

15. Tues. June 18th Rochester to Prior Lake. 89 miles

16. Wed. June 19th. Prior Lake to Maple Grove (Thompson’s) 36 miles

17. Thur. June 20th. Maple Grove to Masonic Children’s, to University of MN Fairview. 16 miles

18. Fri. June 21st. Mayo CNE Nursing Conferrence. Rochester, Speaking.

19. Sat. June 22nd. University Medical Center to Menomonie, WI 82 miles

20. Sun. June 23rd. Menomonie to Augusta. 66 miles

21. Mon. June 24th. Augusta to Marshfield. 56 miles

22. Tues. June 25th Marshfield to Plover. 40 miles