UW LUNG TRANSPLANT SUPPORT GROUP

THE 2000 BEARS

A few years back, the support group attracted more long term members--people who used the meetings to keep in touch with each other and to pass along their knowledge and expertise. In particular, Peggy Severson and her caregiver, Jan Carlson, attended nearly all of the meetings and always had much to say. They kept up the roster, published and mailed out a newsletter, and financed it by selling T-shirts. They also helped set up parties and always enthusiastically encouraged others to participate. A number of people were semi-regulars and nearly everyone was familiar with a group that called themselves the "2000 Bears". Of course, Peggy was instrumental in the formation of that group.

It is an interesting little piece of the history of our support group. I asked Jerri Maclay (herself a 2000 Bear) to provide a little info about the group and it's origins. She provided the following:

Peggy Severson was instrumental in organizing the '2000 Bears' (an extention of the lung support group). At Christmas of 2000, Peggy and Jan Carlson bought teddy bears that had '2000' printed on their sweaters, then invited us over for a gourmet meal (Peggy was a wonderful cook) and presented us with these bears. The original gals were: Lois Young (Renton), Shirley Brigham (Lewiston, ID), Pat Laney (DesMoines) and Peggy Severson (Renton) [all now deceased], Pat Sullivan (Renton), Jerri Maclay (Maple Valley), and Bob Spackman (UT). Adeline King (desceased) and Patt Marsh became 'members'. Then we adopted Bob Barnts.

This was a group who first met at the support meetings and were all the same age with the same problems. We would meet at Peggy's house & exercise on her treadmill, bike & do a Richard Simmons tape. We had a wonderful time and then the exercises graduated into lots of coffee & cookies and then we thought going to lunch every week would be great too. That Christmas dinner was just the start of many get-to-gethers for us & our caregivers: BBQ's, dinners, birthday celebrations. What wonderful friendships.

Jerri also provided this newspaper article from the South County Journal:

2000 Club members from left are:

Jerri Maclay, Maple Valley; Pat Sullivan, Renton; Pat Laney, Des Moines; Peggy Severson, Renton; Shirley Brigham, Idaho; and Lois Young, Renton.

Gary Kissell Journal

2000 Club Supports lung transplant recipients

By Marv Swift, Journal reporter

RENTON - She takes 52 pills a day. Not, you understand, that Renton's Peggy Severson is complaining. The pills are just a reminder of a new lease on life. Severson, who once faced death due to failing lungs, is breathing easier these days, thanks to a lung transplant last Sept. 21.

"Fifty-two pills a day - no big deal. Hey, I can breathe," says Severson, a former Tahoma School District employee who logged a total of 21 years, first as a school bus driver, then as a bus driver trainer before her ilIness forced her to retire. Credit a family history of bad lungs, years of smoking - and breathing exhaust - for her health problems.

She remembers the day she met with a doctor who examined her - and gave her five years to live. That was four years ago, she said. "Five years - and she said the quality of life wouldn't be that good," Severson said. "It damn near floored me. I knew I was bad - l'd take 20 steps and have to stop and catch my breath but not that bad."

Severson was put on a transplant list. She wore a beeper for nine months before the call came telling her a lung had been found for her. "By that time, I was barely able to brush my teeth," she says. "I couldn't walk out and get the mail. I was on 4 liters of oxygen 24 hours a day - literally tied to a machine."

What a difference a transplant makes. She played nine holes of golf last week - and walked the course. No big deal, she laughs. "It was flat," she says. Still, it was something she could only have imagined doing ayear ago.

These days, Severson celebrates the changes in her own life with others who have shared the sarne experience. Through a transplant support group at the University of Washington, Severson struck up friendships with a number of others who were waiting for transplants and eventually got them. Last Christmas, she went out and bought stuffed bears to give to those she'd grown close to who had gotten transplants in 2000. The group of friends call themselves the 2000 Bear Club. They get together informally from time to time. Severson is their unofficial "captain."

One of the members is 60year-old Lois Young of Renton. The two women met through an exercise prograrn at Auburn Regional Medical Center. "We exercised together. She'd been waiting for a transplant for a long time. I'd been waiting for a long time," Severson says. But Young barely made it into the 2000 Club. Her surgery came Dec. 30, 2000 - just under the wire, laughs Severson, a talkative, outgoing woman who tackles life with a full-speed-ahead attitude.

The 2000 Club got together for the first time in January, Severson said. Their most recent get-together came Thursday when they met at Severson's home for a picnic. Among those attending was Shirley Brigham, a transplant recipient from Lewiston, Idaho. Brigham and her husband lived in the mother-in-Iaw apartment in Severson's home while she recuperated from her surgery. It wasn't the only time Severson has opened her home to someone waiting for a transplant - or recuperating from one.

"The first one we had was from Yakima," Severson says. "he died six days after surgery." Then there was "a young man from Utah who didn't qualify for a transplant yet- he wasn't sick enough."

"I'm just trying to give back," Severson says. "Someone gave me something - a lung. I'm trying to take care of it - and the people around me." On Saturday, June 9, Severson will be on hand for "Let's Walk And Talk," a 5 kilometer family fun walk at Marymoor Park in Redmond. The event will benefit Life Center Northwest's Donor Network. Severson will use her golf cart - dubbed "Peggy's Plumb Crazy" - to transport those who need help getting from the parking lot to the event area.

 John Curley, host of "Evening Magazine," will emcee. Mariners pitcher Jamie Moyer and his family also are scheduled to participate.  "Jamie Moyer and his wife, through the Make-AWish Foundation, met a young girl waiting for a liver transplant and became passionate about organ donations," said Lisa Ridgley, chairperson of "Let's Walk And Talk." Ridgley says proceeds from the event, which raised $20,000 last year, will be used for public awareness events to promote understanding about the need for tissue and organ donation.

Pre-registration is $15 per person. Cost is $20 per person on the day of the event with registration beginning at 9 a.m. and the walk starting at 10 a.m. The event includes prizes for the team and for the individual raising the most money through pledges as well as a prize raffle for participants. For information, call  1877-275-5269 .