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Become a Member of Second Wind St. Louis

Become a member of Second Wind St. Louis. We need your participation and your support. It’s easy and your support will mean so much to so many.

Members of Second Wind St. Louis Transplant Association receive our newsletter, have voting privileges at all business meetings, receive E-mail updates on breaking transplant news as well as information on local education and awareness events, and a whole lot more.

Becoming a member is only $25.00 per year and is tax deductible. Click here to learn more about becoming a member of Second Wind St. Louis.

Second Wind St. Louis Welcomes Ken Schanz as our New President

We would like to announce that Ken Schanz is Second Wind St. Louis’ new president. We would like you to join us in welcoming Ken in his new role as our president. He has been a board member for 3 years and has been a caretaker for over 16 years. He is very enthusiastic and has a lot of good energy. We think he will do a wonderful job as Second Wind’s new president and be committed to Second Wind’s mission of helping those going through lung transplantation.

We would like to thank Tom Archer for his enormous contribution to Second Wind through the years. Tom has been our president since 2002 and has devoted countless hours to helping people through lung transplantation. The Second Wind Lung Transplant Association of St. Louis, and the lung transplant community as a whole, owe Tom a huge debt of gratitude for the kindness, effort and energy he has put into helping the lung transplant community through our association. As President Emeritus, Tom will continue to advise Second Wind in the coming months.

Susan Wilson Solovic to emcee the
2015 Lung Walk and 5K Race

Susan-Wilson-Solovic_225Susan Wilson Solovic will emcee the 2015 Second Wind St. Louis Lung Walk and 5K Race. She is a a regular contributor on Fox Business and is ABC’s Small Business Contributor and was a former contributor to ABC’s America This Morning and Money Matters, MSNBC’s Your Business and Fox-TV’s Good Day New York.

She wrote the book “It’s Your Biz,” which became a New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Amazon.com Top 100 and USA Today bestseller. As the winner of the 1979 Miss Missouri pageant, Solovic (as Susan Wilson) represented the state of Missouri in the 1980 Miss America pageant; she placed as the third runner-up.

Second Wind St. Louis Garage Sale

Second Wind is having a garage sale. It’s this Saturday, May 3 during the Crestwood city-wide garage sale. Come to 1245 Tahiti Drive, Crestwood, MO 63126. All proceeds from the sale at 1245 Tahiti Drive will go to Second Wind St. Louis.

To Contribute or Participate

Bring your items to Carrie’s house before May 1 with your chosen price. If you cannot drop off your items, please contact Carrie for a pick up.

We will be selling baked goods and lemonade the day of the sale. So bring by your baked goods (or purchased goodies). All proceeds go to Second Wind St. Louis.

Here is a PDF of the garage sale flyer.

We hop to see you there.

2012 Lung Walk Race Results

The 9th annual Lung Walk was a great success and a wonderful event. The rain held off. It was a beautiful day for a run and everyone had a blast. We will publish more information to follow up, but for now, here are the results for the 5k race.

Name Time
Micah Morris 26.09 First Place Male
Shanna Porter 27.17 First Place Female
Chris Rankin 27.17
Abbie Morris 28.19
Michael Holt 29.45
Rita Kellogg 29.53
Matthew Wallace 29.56
Cheri Henderson 29.45
Collette Kaster 36.50
Jessica Cameron 36.52
Maria Tumbarello 36.53
Brandy Forrest 36.54
Rory McCue 37.01
Shaun McCue 37.02
Pat McCue 37.02
Micah Roberts 37.03
Dan Rosenkrans 37.03
Shane Ruggless 37.03
Jason Coomer 37.04
Unknown 37.04
Gigi Ylagan 37.04
Ellie Guerico 37.05
Laura Roberts 37.05
Dan Barnes 37.05
Stacey Shue 37.07
Lindsay Wallace 37.40
Matt Martin 37.57
Jill Genovese 38.15
Kelly Union 38.16
Justin Summary 38.21
Megan Meckfessel 38.22
Linda Hearn 38.45
Hannah Bock 39.28
Megan Bock 44.00
Jeremy Parks 44.00
Monica Parks 44.00
Lindell Wallace 48.09
Nicole Matthews 48.12
Susan Turner 48.47
Dottie Gray 50.24

Lend your time and talents to help Second Wind

The St. Louis Second Wind Lung Transplant Association needs you! By volunteering, you are providing the much-needed support to help further our mission of serving lung transplant patients and their families. Your efforts also will help to: Add Years to Their Lives and Life to Their Years.

You Choose…
We Have a Volunteer Opportunity to Match Your Interests and Skills…
• Looking for a fun team-building event for your co-workers? Form teams for the Second Wind Lung Walk. (Find out which department can raise the most money
• Do you like to raise money for good causes? Offer to recruit corporate sponsors and raffle items for the Lung Walk or organize a fundraising event such as a dinner dance, golf or fishing tournament, or bike ride..
• Do you like the adrenaline rush of pulling everything together? Consider pitching in with logistical support for a local chapter event.
• By giving a few hours, sharing a few ideas and making a few connections, you can make a profound difference in the St. Louis Chapter of Second Wind and your local community — and to children and adults waiting for life-saving lung transplants at St. Louis Children’s Hospital and Barnes-Jewish Hospital.

Second Wind’s Lung Walk is so vitally
important to so many people.

It may not be the biggest or the most famous event in St. Louis, but it’s likely has the most miracles in one place at one time that you will ever witness! The Lung Walk brings lung transplant recipients, those awaiting transplant, their families, friends, neighbors, and community partners together. This annual 5K run/walk is the primary fundraiser for the Second Wind Assistance Fund which provides financial aid to patients and families of pre and post lung transplant patients from Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children’s Hospitals.

Several hundred Second Wind supporters, a substantial number of whom are walking miracles – lung transplant recipients – come together to walk, run, ride in wagons or strollers, or just hang out under the tents in Forest Park after soliciting sponsors to raise money and awareness for the Assistance Fund.

A little background: Unlike many other organ transplants, lungs require the patient to be in a regimen of physical rehabilitation before the transplant can even take place. To be in the transplant program requires that the patient must be living near the transplant hospital to participate in the mandated rehab program and other testing requirements. Since there are relatively few programs with the high level of transplant competency of these two hospitals, most patients must move to St. Louis from other parts of the country.

That in itself wouldn’t be a burden were it not that, for the vast majority, there are a family, house, and living expenses that go on back home while the patient and a caregiver are living here – doubling the costs by having to maintain two households. Rarely are those who aren’t juggling these double expenses in any better financial shape. Those on the transplant waiting list are often on disability assistance and their fixed incomes don’t stretch far.

The funds raised at the Lung Walk are used to help defray the financial burdens that might otherwise keep a patient from being able to stay in the transplant program. Help with rent, transportation costs, utilities, medications (oh, the list of medications…), and a myriad of other expenses are what the Second Wind Assistance Fund can provide for our fellow transplant families in need.

Many of the Assistance Fund’s biggest fundraisers are the lung transplant patients themselves. They know the costs, the worry, the toll that working through the transplant experience involves. But they can’t do it alone – we need the help of our friends and the entire community to make more miracles possible!

Please join in the effort to support lung transplant patients by becoming a Lung Walk participant, or email Karen Kneib to become a sponsor or volunteer. Of course we welcome donations to the Assistance Fund throughout the year as well. Click here to make a contribution.

7 things any person receiving a lung transplant needs to know.

1. Be informed. Learn everything you can. The only way you can make an informed decision on having a lung transplant and to know what to expect after is to have all the information you can. Second Wind can not provide medical advise, but we can help point you in the right direction.

2. Meet some lung transplant survivors. It’s great to have some points of view from those who have gone through a lung transplant. Doctors can give you medical advice. But personal experience can be very helpful as well.

3. Keep your family and friends close. Having a lung transplant is difficult at best, and having a good support group is crucial. Be sure to give them lots of love and appreciate their kindness. Your closest friends and family will be more important to you than ever.

4. Prepare for your lung transplant. Eat the right foods and do everything in your power to be as healthy as possible before your procedure.

5. Exercise. Do what you can before and after to stay healthy. Most often transplant recipients are given a regime of what they can and can not do. It’s important to work through this regimen. In time, it will pay off well for you.

6. Plan for after your lung transplant. As simple as it sounds, think ahead. Allow yourself time to heal. Don’t force it. Don’t plan anything too strenuous. When you heal, you’ll be able to do many things you couldn’t before your lung transplant, but be patient.

7. Keep a good attitude. It may not be easy, but it’s important to be positive. It will certainly help your outcome.