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Local Stories - Team Kentucky
Evelyn Pusateri, 76
Louisville , Kentucky
Evelyn refuses to think about the past. She considers herself to be one of the luckiest people alive. She works full time selling real estate and has a very active social life. She has been able to be alive to enjoy grandchildren, great grandchildren, weddings, births, deaths, graduations and all the wonderful things in life.
Fifteen years ago, she didn’t think she was so lucky. After years of health-related problems, a visit to her doctor and numerous tests revealed that she needed a liver transplant. Fortunately, a donor was located and she was given another chance at life. She
tries not to think about the hard times and struggles she went through to receive a transplant, but Evelyn does want to focus on her donor family.
Right after her transplant, Evelyn contacted the donor family to thank them, feeling nervous at the prospect of not knowing what to say, but at the same time being eternally grateful. She was finally able to meet them, and now travels back and forth to their home state of Virginia for annual trips and gatherings.
“I cannot thank my donor family enough for making this life-saving sacrifice,” Evelyn says. “I am so fortunate to have met them, and we stay in touch regularly. They are now part of my extended family, and they just spent the last Kentucky Derby with me.”
Evelyn has participated in six U.S. Transplant Games, winning two medals, and this week she is competing in the bowling and tennis events in the 2006 U.S. Transplant Games.
