In August 2000, 29-year-old Myron Thirtle donated one of his kidneys to his ailing dad, Eric. 

When asked to consider becoming a donor, Thirtle didn’t hesitate.  He got the tests done, learned he was a match, and showed up for surgery at the University of Iowa Hospital.  He spent a week recovering in the hospital, a month recuperating at his parents’ house, and then returned to his home in St. Louis to go on with his normal life.

“It’s a no-brainer, really,” he says.  “My dad gave me life.  Why can’t I give it back to him?”

Physically, Thirtle’s life did not change.  

“There was a lot of pain and discomfort in the beginning,” he says, “But as the years have gone by, I’ve lived a normal, healthy life.  My remaining kidney enlarged to compensate for the loss of the other one.”

Physically, he doesn’t notice any difference at all.  

Emotionally, however, Thirtle’s life did change.  Dramatically.

At first, his distant relationship with his dad grew much closer.  “Ever since I gave him that second chance at life, his attitude toward me changed.  He started respecting me and we became the best of friends in the end,” Thirtle says.  

But when his dad died unexpectedly in 2010, just 29 days shy of the 10-year anniversary of the transplant, Thirtle was devastated.  

He had done everything he could to save his dad, whose kidneys had deteriorated due to IGA nephropathy, an autoimmune disease, but he could not prevent him from developing esophageal cancer, and he could not force the doctors to diagnose him early enough for effective treatment.  

He literally gave a part of himself to save his dad, and he lost him anyway.

It was a dark time.

But from death comes rebirth; the phoenix rises from the ashes.  

The University hospital connected Thirtle with a support group, and “through that support group, I learned of Team Iowa and their group of people that have had a life-saving organ transplant or are living donors, including donor families.”

“They had the managers from Team Iowa come in and talk to everybody, and once I found out about them, things started perking up for me a little bit.  It’s a blessing to be involved with that group of people,” he says.

Team Iowa celebrates the gifts of organ, eye, and tissue donation and encourages others to register as a donor; to express their appreciation, they compete in the Transplant Games of America, an  Olympic-like competition that occurs every two years with 20 athletic and recreational events.

Thirtle was inspired and got to work. For three months, he trained at the Kalona Community Center.

“In 2012, I participated in my first Transplant Games in Grand Rapids, Michigan,” Thirtle says.  “I got a gold medal in racquetball, and I got a gold medal in singles bowling.”

When he returned, he told The News, “The people there were awesome, and we all shared our experiences and got to know one another.  That was probably the best thing about the whole trip.  I definitely plan on going again.”

And go again he did.  In 2014 he went as a member of Team Iowa to the Transplant Games in Houston, Texas.  Here he earned a gold medal in racquetball and a silver medal in bowling.  In 2016 he found himself in Cleveland, Ohio, placing fourth in Texas Holdem Poker and earning a silver medal in bowling once again.  The 2018 games brought him to Salt Lake City, Utah; “I brought home six medals, five gold and a bronze,” Thirtle reports.

In 2022, the Transplant Games were held in San Diego, California.  Thirtle brought home gold medals in doubles bowling, 4x100 relay, 4x400 relay, and cricket darts, and a silver medal in 301 darts.  

Teams compete for podium spots as well; the team with the most individual medal wins ends up on top.  

“In years past, we’ve always finished in the top five.  This year we finally broke the hurdle,” Thirtle says.  “Number one.  We got the cup.”

Finding kinship with other living organ donors and recipients has rejuvenated Thirtle’s outlook on life and reignited a passion for organ donation.  

“It’s really changed my life tremendously.  It’s opened up a lot of doors,” he says.  “I’m fairly popular with everybody out there, and it’s just fun to keep talking to them.  I’m part of several different organ donor groups to get some of the support that I do need every now and again.”

In 2013 he was inducted into the Organ Donor Hall of Fame.  In April 2018, he was one of 410 people to gather at the Bean in Chicago, setting a Guinness World Record for largest gathering of organ transplant donors.  He’s taken trips with other living donors to the Bahamas and to Mexico.

“Every chance I get, I always like to talk to people about [organ donation],” Thirtle says.

This year, one of those opportunities came at Kalona’s Fall Festival.  Thirtle and some friends set up a table, and “right after the community awards that they did onstage, some of the people with his group went up and gave their testimonials.  They were either recipients or donors themselves,” explains Nancy Roth, Managing Director of the Kalona Historical Village.  

“This one gentleman, Bill, told us he was literally on the brink of death, and then he got life again.  We don’t know how they experience that because we’ve never been put in that position,” Roth says.  “His story was just tear-jerking.  All of them were.”

“You go in every how many years to renew your driver’s license, and you don’t think about the fact that it’s as easy as telling the person behind the counter that you want to be an organ donor.  That you could save multiple lives if something ever happened to you,” she adds.

Over fall festival weekend, Thirtle and his friends were able to register three people to the organ donor registry.  “It was a success when I just got the first one,” he comments.

Thirtle hopes to continue to have a presence at Kalona’s Fall Festival in the future, a future he now finds filled with hope rather than despair.

“A lot of positive things have happened to me since, and it just makes me feel good that I was able to play a part in this world,” he says.

How to become a donor

To become an organ donor at the time of your death, register at iowadonornetwork.org/register.  As a living donor, you may be able to donate one of your kidneys, one liver lobe, a lung or part of the lung, part of the pancreas, or part of the intestines.  For more information, call the United Network for Organ Sharing at 1-888-894-6361 or visit Iowa Donor Network at IowaDonorNetwork.org.

The Transplant Games are open to living donors and recipients of organ, tissue, corneal, and cell transplants (bone marrow).  For more information on requirements and how to join Team Iowa, visit IADN.org.

Myron Thirtle fundraises for the travel expenses of Team Iowa.  If you or your business would like to make a contribution, email myronthirtle@gmail.com.