Waikiki Yacht Club
Ardell Lien is a remarkable man. Doing a solo circumnavigation is an achievement. Doing it at the age of 70 is a major achievement. Doing it with a new heart and new kidneys is just amazing.
I was at Waikiki Yacht Club in Hawaii to meet with Bobbie Jennings (no slouch herself – now 71, she hitch-hiked around the world in the 60’s – imagine doing THAT without email or the internet…). She had helped my friend Adrian Flanagan when he had to put in for repairs during his vertical circumnavigation of the world, and I wanted to meet her as Hawaii will be my first port of call en route across the Pacific.
As we were chatting, Ardell and his wife just happened to wander by, and Bobbie introduced us.
Just pause for a moment, and imagine what it must be like to be sick enough to need a double transplant. He must have been at death’s door, but thanks to a card-carrying donor he received 3 new organs and went on just 2 years later to tackle this challenge – his objective being to build awareness of organ donation.
I was just about to start preaching here about how important it is to carry a card, when I realised that in the course of my travels (and largely due to my habit of regularly losing my purse) I no longer have a card myself.
So after a quick Google, I can now tell you to click here to find out what to do.
Ardell’s slogan?
DON’T TAKE YOUR ORGANS TO HEAVEN – HEAVEN KNOWS WE NEED THEM HERE.
When you meet someone like Ardell, and see what a difference organ donation can make…. well, need I say more?