Former Abbotsford resident rides for a cause

A Wisconsin man is set to embark on his fifth bike ride to benefit organ and specifically, kidney donations on March 9, 2023.

Mark Scotch, 67, is a 1974 graduate of Abbotsford High School who retired in 2020 and began using bicycling to promote kidney disease, living donor awareness and post-donation functionality.

Mark grew up in Prentice and moved to Abbotsford between his sophomore and junior year of high school.

Shortly after graduation, Mark moved to Oregon where he worked with his dad. Lynn followed him out to Oregon in the fall of 1974 where they later got married. The couple have three children.

This time, Mark will be embarking on a marathon 1,400-mile bike ride.

Mark’s fifth Organ Trail will begin in Lubbock, Texas, on World Kidney Day. From there, he will travel to Ft. Worth, Austin, San Antonio, Houston and Galveston, Texas, before proceeding to New Orleans arriving in Covington, La. on approximately April 6, 2023.

“The Organ Trail is all about generating awareness for the need for kidney donors, especially living kidney donors, but it’s also about showing people that even with one kidney, you can still lead a life full of activities, even if those activities are sustained and vigorous,” Mark said.

In retirement, Mark knew he wanted to have goals and something to keep him busy which led him to bike riding.

“Retired people kind of reevaluate a lot of things and that’s the phase I was going through,” Mark said. “I knew in retirement I wanted to stay busy and active. I wanted to find something that would be a passion of mine.

Mark’s story began in early 2020 when he met Hugh Smith, 56, a former professional horse jockey, at Cane River Brewing in Smith’s hometown of Natchitoches, La.

Mark learned that during his days as a jockey, Smith suffered frequent injuries. To combat the pain, he took ibuprofen for an extended period of time. This damaged his kidneys, sending him into severe renal failure in 2019 and requiring him to have daily dialysis. This also put him alongside nearly 100,000 Americans waiting for a life-saving kidney.

Just the day before, the two men had been strangers. That day, Mark knew what he wanted to do, give one of his kidneys to Smith.

Mark said he had never thought about donating a kidney but after meeting Hugh, he knew that could be his passion in retirement.

“My sister-in-law had donated [a kidney] 12 years previous to me meeting Hugh so I knew you could donate a kidney and live. But I had never thought of it or gave it any consideration. As soon as he said he needed a kidney, it clicked. I just said, ‘Why not?’” Although Mark’s kidney wasn’t a direct match for Smith, he still wanted to donate a kidney to someone who needed one. Through the National Kidney Registry Voucher Program he became a “voucher donor”, where he would be matched with a recipient somewhere in the country. Once the kidney donation was complete, Mark could also name Smith as the person he wanted to benefit, which would give the former jockey higher priority on the National Kidney Registry transplant list.

“What the voucher program does is it allowed me to get totally evaluated in Madison,” Mark said. “I found out I could become a donor and gave Hugh a voucher. So it gave him priority on the National Kidney Registry wait list. He got moved to the top of the list.”

In September 2020, Mark was matched with a compatible individual in New York and successfully donated his kidney. In early 2021, Smith received his needed kidney from a donor in California.

Mark’s generosity helped save the life of a person in New York and allowed Smith to receive a kidney, in essence, saving two lives.

Mark touted the effectiveness of the voucher system and ease at which the transplant could take place.

“He probably would have never got a kidney without the voucher system,” Mark said. “The system allowed me to do everything at my local hospital in Madison, Wisconsin while Hugh went to his local hospital in Jackson, Mississippi, and gave Hugh higher priority on the transplant list,” said Mark.

Smith’s doctors are pleased with his recovery and he has since returned to work.

Lynn said Hugh’s case was unique in that he was healthy enough that he probably wouldn’t be able to get a kidney but sick enough that he needed dialysis.

“It takes three to four weeks with the program.,” Mark said. “The voucher program is a game-changer. You don’t have to be a match, you don’t have to know anybody, you don’t have to be geographically compatible, you don’t have to align schedules with someone. The person that needs the kidney’s health can go up and down really quick. So the voucher is a huge gamechanger.”

Now, you can donate a kidney and you can name up to five family members as recipients of your voucher. If one of those five family members ever need a kidney at any point in their lives, they would be moved to the top of the transplant list thanks to the individual’s donation.

To increase kidney disease and living donor awareness, celebrate Smith and prove that donors can return to their previous level of activity and function on a single kidney, even if that activity is sustained and vigorous, Mark put his cycling skills to use. In early 2021, he completed his first Organ Trail, cycling 1,500 miles from Madison, where he donated his kidney, to Natchitoches, where Smith and he first met.

Throughout their journeys, Mark and Lynn have met many new people and have reconnected with old friends. During the early rides, Mark met with Debb Solomon and Joe Bauer, both graduates of Abbotsford High School, who allowed Mark to use their motor home during one of his extended rides. That act of kindness allowed Mark to stay out of people’s homes during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.

With 3,000 new patients added monthly to the kidney waiting list, and 13 people dying every day because of a shortage of kidneys, the cyclist-turned-kidney donor plans to continue raising awareness about living kidney donation through The Organ Trail.

Because of his many activities on behalf of more than 100,000 Americans awaiting transplants of lifesaving kidneys, Mark earned the 2021 USA Today “Humankind Triumph of the Year Award.”

Mark’s earlier “Organ Trail” journeys to highlight kidney health included: a 1,500-mile bike ride from Madison to Natchitoches, La. (2021), a 1,600-mile bike ride from Martha’s Vineyard, Mass., to his home in Plover (2021), a 135-mile bike competition in the 2022 Arrowhead Ultra – designated as one of the world’s most difficult ultra marathons because it is held in the middle of winter in Northern Minnesota (2022) and a 1,350-mile bike ride from San Diego, Cali. to Lubbock, Texas (2022).

Full details of this 1,400-mile kidney donation awareness journey can be found at www.markscotch. com and on Facebook at The Organ Trail.

Both sources of information also feature educational content about becoming a kidney donor or contributing to causes and organizations that support kidney health.

Today, Mark and Lynn are still traveling the country. Lynn is in the process of becoming a donor and naming her family members as beneficiaries of her voucher.

SUPPORT SYSTEM WHILE TRAVELING -Mark has been all over the country promoting the importance of kidney donation and next, he will be going from Lubbock, Texas to Covington, La. Lynn joins Mark on his journeys and provides support wherever it is needed. She is also currently in the process of becoming a kidney donor herself.SUBMITTED PHOTOS