Ultra CGA

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Learn more
Visit www.bethekidney.com
to read Terry’s day-by-day recap
of the three-day Ultraman
event and to learn more about
how you can make a difference
through organ donation.
Go to www.transplant.
bc.ca/living_donation.htm
for more information about
being a living kidney donor.
If you haven’t already
registered that you would
like to donate your organs
after your death, go to
www.transplant.bc.ca to
complete the online registration
form.
Your business or organization
can help, too. One option is
to allow employees to take a
leave of absence to be a living
donor, as is done by Novartis
Pharmaceuticals and provided
for in the collective agreements
for B.C.’s public school teachers,
public sector employees and
employees of the Provincial
Health Services Authority. You
can also register your business
with EI’s SUB program
to provide a top-up salary to
employees who take time off
to be a living organ donor. See
www.servicecanada.gc.ca/
eng/cs/sub/060.shtml for
more information.
to wait for 10 years for a cadaver
kidney, as the wait list in B.C. for
those with her blood type tends
to be longer than the norm of six
years.
Laura is philosophical about
the setback, but it’s clear that it
exerts a heavy emotional and
physical toll. When you have
kidney failure, she explains, your
battery doesn’t recharge and it
can take a long time to recover
from even basic tasks. It means
that she tires easily – and that she
is now more of a cheerleader for
her husband and two children
rather than participating alongside
them.
As Laura and Terry grappled
with the effects of Laura’s kidney
disease, Craig felt a sense of
responsibility to raise awareness
about the value of organ donation
and how it can transform the
lives of both the recipient and the
donor. He says that he wanted
to show people that living organ
donors are not limited by the
donation and that they can continue
to live a full and healthy life.
The ultimate
physical challenge
“I wanted to do something that
would really stand out, so that
people would take notice,” says
Craig. He crossed events like
marathons and triathlons off his
list, since thousands of British Columbians
will participate in these
endurance events each year.
He wanted something uniquely
challenging, and he found it in
the Ultraman Canada Championships,
open to only 31 invited
participants. If he could do the
Ultraman, Craig told himself, he
could show the world that living
organ donors can do anything.
Training for an Ultraman is like
heading into unknown territory.
How do you prepare your body
for three full days of physical
activity encompassing longdistance
swimming, biking and
running? Further, given how few
people complete in Ultraman
events (there are only two other
Ultraman races held each year, in
Wales and Hawaii), it’s not like you
can easily find training programs
or meet up with training partners
at your local running store. And
when you’re a CGA who manages
a busy practice in Osoyoos
and values time with his family,
how do you carve out the hours
needed to prepare physically for
an event of this magnitude?
Dave Nielsen, CGA, a partner
in Schmitz, Anderson & Nielsen
in Prince George, completed an
Ironman in 1992, and he sheds
some light on the training and
personal sacrifices required to
train for an endurance event.
Each day, he says, requires training
for two of the three activities.
He would get up at 6:00 for a
swim and then do two hours
of cycling or running at night.
Nielsen admits that finding the
time for training was particularly
difficult during tax season.
“The training is as much mental
preparation as physical,” he
says. “The mind has to know that
you are physically able to do it.”
Craig also insists that endurance
events require as much – if
not more – mental stamina as
physical stamina. He claims that
shorter races are the true test of
your physical capabilities, and
that endurance events are more a
test of your emotions.
“Doing something like the
Ultraman is being able to say, ok
this is what I need to do to get
through the next 12 hours,” says
Craig. “It’s the same thing with
work and those 12-hour days during
tax season, when you have to
figure out how to pace and push
yourself to get through the day.”
For Craig, the longer distances
are a real test of patience and
perseverance. “And that’s where
I look to Laura for inspiration. For
her, every day is an endurance
test. That’s why I have her picture
on my bike – to remind me of her
courage and strength.”
Eliminating the
financial costs of
organ donation
In addition to demonstrating that
organ donors are not physically
limited by their donation, Craig
wants to reduce the financial
barriers that might prevent
people from donating an organ.
These are the costs associated
with travel, accommodation and
medical expenses, as well as the
lost income during the up to
eight-week recovery period.
Eileen Reppenhagen, CGA, says
that under the Income Tax Act,
both the organ donor and recipient
– as well as one additional
individual for each person – may
be able to claim reasonable travel
and medical payments associated
with organ transplants as a
medical tax credit to reduce taxes
payable.
This doesn’t fully address the
financial issue, however, as it does
not reimburse donors for their
expenses. Lorraine Gerard, Executive
Director of the BC Branch of
the Kidney Foundation of Canada,
believes that in an ideal world,
organ donors would not be out
of pocket for any expenses associated
with donation.
In 2006, the BC Branch of
the Kidney Foundation and BC
Transplant launched an innovative
pilot program to cover the
expenses of organ donors –
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