It was an emotional day for family and friends of the CGA community, as Terry and Laura Craig crossed the Ultraman Canada finish line together on August 6, 2012 in Summerland, BC: all in the name of living donor awareness.
Terry Craig, a CGA with Kemp Harvey Kemp Inc. in Osoyoos and Penticton, is now an Ultraman, who happens to have only one kidney.
In 2005, Terry donated a kidney to his wife, Laura, a couple months after their wedding. The amazing years that followed the kidney donation were full of health, but, in 2010, an aggressive virus attacked Laura’s body and, in turn, she exprienced kidney failure in the donor kidney. She is now on dialysis and back on the kidney transplant waiting list. This August, Terry did the Ultraman in an effort to show the world what living donors can do, after their surgery, and he also did it to raise awareness about the empowering and positive experience which is saving a life through the act of donating a kidney.
Terry completed the gruelling 514.5-kilometre, three-day Ultraman Canada triathlon event in 33 hours, 54 minutes and 49 seconds during a long Okanagan-Similkameen weekend filled with extreme heat, August 4 to 6, 2012.
The first day of the event included a challenging 10-kilometre swim on Skaha Lake in Penticton. On the first and second day of the Ultraman, participants covered a difficult total of 420.2-kilometres: bicyling various routes through communities such as Penticton, Okanagan Falls, Oliver, Osoyoos, Keremeos, Princeton and Allison Lake, BC. The third and last day of the event featured an exhausting 84.3-kilometre, double marathon on the Old Princeton/Summerland highway.
Through the whole weekend, Terry had the love of his life, Laura, by his side and nearby in a crew van with other family and friends supporting his effort.
The Craigs were greeted by many proud supporters along the way, and also celebrated with them at the finish line August 6, 2012.
Congratulations, Terry and Laura Craig! We are all so proud of you!
Be the Kidney!
Photo credit: Andrew Stuckey, Star North Communications
Please see http://bethekidney.wordpress.com/2012/08/06/terry-craig-is-an-ultraman/ for the story and pictures, as well as www.bethekidney.com for updates and photos from the past. There will be more posts from Terry Craig, himself, during the next few weeks. Follow Terry and Laura Craig (@bethekidney) on Twitter: www.twitter.com/bethekidney for more updates.