Transplant helped coach back to the ice

A skating coach who gives group and private lessons for figure skating and hockey, Pitman has been working at Carmel Ice Skadium for 13 years. She also celebrated the two-year anniversary of her liver transplant on July 13.
Now, the effervescent 34-year-old will compete at the World Transplant Games Aug. 25-Sept. 2 in Thailand.
A former competitive figure skater, Pitman was the 1996 National Collegiate Senior Ladies Silver Medalist, a 16-year regional competitor and a six-year sectional competitor. She will compete in swimming (50 meter freestyle and 50 meter breaststroke) and 3K road race at the World Transplant Games, since figure skating is not among sports offered.
Q: How have your health problems affected you? (Pitman has Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, collectively known as inflammatory bowel disease.)
A: I was 17 years old when I was diagnosed with bowel problems, but I was 28 when I had my first surgery. They removed my large intestine, and then I had all kinds of reconstructive surgery . . . The liver problem stemmed from the IBD, Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis . . . Our liver filters everything that goes in our body and it filtered all the drugs, and since I refused to be put on steroids because of skating, because I wouldn't be able to compete, they used a different drug that they think sped up the process. Eventually (my liver) would have failed, but it sped up the process. . .
On Jan. 31, 2005, I became so ill I had to go to the hospital, and they found out that I had spontaneous bacterial peritonitis, which meant the fluid in my abdomen was infected, which meant the liver couldn't filter out what it needed to. Within six weeks I was in the hospital weekly to remove fluid from my abdomen and began the rigorous testing that they put you through for a transplant.
Q: Where did your donated liver come from?
A: I've not been able to meet my donor family . . . Because it's very confidential, I gave a letter to my post-transplant coordinator to send. Hopefully I'll be able to meet them and keep in touch with them because of how they affected by life. I can't thank them enough. I consider them my angels. With the literally horrific situation they were in, to have to make that decision, they gave me a second chance.
Q: How long until you were back at the rink after your transplant?
A: It took me a little longer in the hospital to recover because I had a couple of setbacks, some reactions, but I was out of the hospital in two weeks. Most people are out within seven to 10 days. I didn't have my skates on, but I was back at the rink sitting on the boards coaching after six weeks . . . I was back on the ice in eight weeks. I don't know what I would have done without my job and being around kids.
Q: After going through all that, what will it mean for you to compete in the 2007 World Transplant Games?
A: It's such an honor . . . Of course, everybody wants to win or do well, but it's just the idea that we are able to be there. We are living proof that it works and that organ donation is so important.
Q: What is your advice to athletes who also are transplant recipients interested in competing? (Eleven months out of surgery, Pitman was competing at the 2006 U.S. Transplant Games in Louisville, barely missing a medal.)
A: Becoming active helps your health . . . They said to me, "You would not be able to recover as quickly as you did without being an athlete and having the motivation to go out and do this." We are a special group but we're just like anybody else. If someone is interested in being in any part of the Transplant Games, they don't have to be an athlete, they can contact the National Kidney Foundation in Indiana . . . It's just a fun experience for any transplant recipient because we can do stuff and we can kick people's butts, too.

Source:www.indystar.com