Mitchell Auto Group sponsors Golf For Life for employee Kari August

Mitchell Auto Group is sponsoring the 1st Annual Golf for Life Tournament, a benefit for the Transplant Team of Connecticut that features an evening of golf, to honor employee Kari August of Canton, an organ transplant recipient.

The fundraising event is scheduled for Saturday, May 17 starting at 6 p.m. at Copper Hill Golf Club in East Granby. The rain date is May 31. The cost is $85 for golf and food or $45 for horseshoes and food. Prizes and goodie bags will be given out.

Teams of five can play in the tournament together. Cash, checks or money orders are accepted as payment, which can be made the day of the event as long as the names of all players are submitted by e-mail. 

For tickets or information about the fundraiser, e-mail golftourney051714@gmail.com.

The tournament will raise funds for the Transplant Team of Connecticut’s trip to the U.S. Transplant Games of America in Houston, Texas, which will cost more than $50,000 this year. August is a member of the Connecticut team.

“We congratulate Kari, a valued employee at our Mitchell Volkswagen dealership in Canton, for her work and dedication to this cause,” said Mitchell Auto Group’s Jill Mitchell, Community Partnership Development coordinator. “She is here today because of the generosity of organ donors. Please help us support their goal and save lives.”

August’s life was saved not once but twice by organ donors, the first time through a kidney donation from her brother. Diagnosed at age nine with Type 1 diabetes, she suffered complications throughout her life. But when she was pregnant with her first daughter, they became more serious -- her kidneys were not functioning properly.

Her condition seemed fine after the birth and during a second pregnancy. Following the birth of her second daughter, however, August’s diabetes doctor referred her to a nephrologist whose testing showed she had less than 10 percent of her kidney function left. She was put on a restricted diet and underwent six months of peritoneal dialysis.

“I was told I was a candidate for kidney and pancreas transplants but I had a lot of testing to do first,” she said.

Both her brother and sister were tested for the kidney transplant and fortunately, he was found to be a match. The surgery was successful but two days after surgery, August had a heart attack and had three stents put in her heart a few days later.

“Because of my heart attack I was taken off the list for a pancreas until my heart was healthy again,” she said.

When it was she started the testing process for the transplant, but things didn’t work out at the first two hospitals she went to. She met with success at Yale-New Haven Hospital, where she was given an insulin pump, testing was completed, and a new waiting period began.

“With the pancreas transplant I had to wait for a call when a person younger than 25 had died and was a match with me,” August said. “I waited four years and six months. I was called in two times before that but I was sick and the other time the organ was not good enough. The third call was the charm.”

The surgery, conducted in October 2008, went well and recovery time was quicker than her medical team thought it would be.

“I have been very healthy and I have competed in The Transplant Games of America,” she said. “It is a wonderful group of people, transplant recipients, living donors and donor families all together as one big family.”

The games are Olympic-style events and are held every two years. The competitions are open to anyone who has had a life-saving organ, eye, or bone marrow transplant or is a living donor. Athletes compete by state for medals.

The mission of the state teams and the games is to honor organ and tissue donors, living donors, and donor families by showcasing the health and wellness experienced by transplant recipients, to educate people about organ and tissue donation, and empower them to make the decision to give the gift of life.  

Visit www.ttoct.org to find out more about the Transplant Team of Connecticut or to make a donation.