VENTURA : The Heart of a Competitor

Ventura resident Carol Furst was edged out of a medal at the U. S. Transplant Games, but she is setting her sights on Vancouver, Canada, where she plans to compete next year in the shotput against other transplant recipients.

Furst finished fourth among seven female competitors 45 years and older in the 50-yard freestyle race at UCLA. Furst, a heart recipient who will turn 70 in October, was by far the oldest swimmer in the race and the only one who was not a kidney recipient.

“I was way ahead in the first lap. I should have paced myself, but I petered out,” she said. “I was shaking the whole day inside and out. I was afraid I wouldn’t finish. I wanted people to be proud of me.” Furst’s support group leader gave her a toy medal Monday, but she hopes to earn a real one someday. Since no women over 45 entered the shotput this year, she figures she will have a good chance at the international games next year.

A handful of Ventura County residents were among 838 people with organ transplants who competed in the Olympics-style games last weekend. Debbie Fields, 34, a kidney transplant recipient from Moorpark, finished second in the 50-yard breaststroke race and third in the 100-yard breaststroke.

The four-day event was aimed at celebrating the new lives of transplant recipients and increasing awareness about organ donations. More than 26,000 Americans currently await organ transplants, and several of them die each day, according to the National Kidney Foundation of Southern California, which organized the games. Furst, who in 1989 was the oldest patient to ever receive a heart transplant, got a donated heart from a 24-year-old man killed in a vehicular accident near Riverside.

“If people could only see what a wonderful gift it is,” she said.