Transplanted Kidney Gets Good Mileage

OK, Doug Thacker isn’t the model of a cross-country hiker.

He could drop a few pounds. His canteen looks way too small. And his kidney is somebody else’s.

But sporting a backpack and new sneakers, Thacker set out from the UCLA Medical Center Friday on a 3,000-mile transcontinental trek to mark the 25th anniversary of his kidney transplant and draw attention to the nation’s need for donated organs.

“I want to show people the success of transplantation and make them aware of organ donation,” said Thacker, 40, who manages a drive-in restaurant in Delaware, Ohio.

Five years ago he planned to go sky-diving to mark his 20th anniversary. But the idea was scrapped at the last minute because of airplane engine trouble. This time his feet are on the ground, again and again. “I’m hoping I don’t have engine trouble,” he said.

Thacker plans to hike dusty desert roads and freeways to Arizona, then pick a course across the nation’s midsection to arrive in Washington on July 15. That is the anniversary of the day he received a kidney from his father at age 15, after his own kidneys failed from a bad reaction to medication he had taken years earlier.

His mission is to celebrate and proselytize.

More than 33,000 Americans are waiting for vital organs, such as kidneys, livers and hearts, according to the National Kidney Foundation of Southern California. The waiting list grows by 1,000 a month; an estimated six to seven people die each day for lack of a donated organ.

Dr. T. J. Rosenthal, a UCLA kidney transplant specialist, was on hand to applaud Thacker’s send-off. He had just performed a kidney transplant on a 62-year-old man who had waited two years. “The reality is, people return to normal and productive lives,” Rosenthal said.

Thacker, who says he is perfectly healthy, hopes to walk up to 30 miles a day--he has done 12 miles a day in training--and will stay with friends and people who have undergone organ transplants. His 35-pound backpack has medicine, some clothes and a cache of emergency food in case there are no truck stops.

Thacker hopes his tent stays packed. “Hopefully I won’t have to be Jeremiah Johnson,” he said, referring to a fabled mountain man. “I’d rather stay in a Howard Johnson’s.”

He had company, at least for the first day. Hukam Singh Khalsa, a yoga instructor, had planned his own cross-country hike when he heard about Thacker’s journey Thursday. He showed up Friday morning clutching a walking stick, a compass dangling from his pack.

The pair trudged up the first hill off campus. They would turn up Sepulveda Boulevard, then north through the San Fernando Valley and beyond. “I’ve felt better,” Thacker huffed. “We don’t have hills like this in Ohio.”