The 2011 Katie Caples Invitational Cross Country Race will be held on the campus of Bishop Kenny High School on September, 17th 2011.

I recently exchanged an email with David Caples, Katie's father and learned a lot about organ donation.  Proceeds from the gate admission for the 2011 Katie Caples Invitational will be donated to The Katie Caples Foundation.

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The Katie Caples Foundation was started in 1998 by the family of Katie Caples, a young high school student from Jacksonville who became an organ and tissue donor after not surviving the trauma of an automobile accident.

The Katie Ride started in 2005 as a cycling event for riders of all levels to raise awareness about making an organ donation commitment. The Katie Walk, which was added in 2009, is another opportunity to tell the story, raise funds and support this mission.

The cycling event offers courses of varying distance from 7 to 100 miles with full support along the way. The Katie Walk offers a 5K and 10K course through beautiful Fort Clinch State Park.

Funds raised by both events help to promote organ and tissue donation and deliver important educational programs to high school freshman and sophomores.

Katie Caples

 

David Caples - The Katie Caples Invitational has had a very positive impact on

raising awareness about the decision, that each of us in

America has a responsibility to make,  relative to organ

donation.

Each morning over 110,000 individuals wake to the question

of whether they will make it through that day because they

have a vital organ which is malfunctioning… ala a heart, kidney

lung, liver, etc.  In the USA the above mentioned potential

recipients only have a 40% chance that they will receive a

transplant before they die.

The above number is just scratching the surface. As an example,

it is estimated that 25 million Americans have or will be diagnosed with Diabetes.

Over 225,000 Americans are today living on chronic dialysis (due to end

stage kidney disease) or with a kidney transplant.

We could take each organ and tell impactful stories.

The United States does not have an aggressive donor registration

umbrella program in place such as  'opt out' legislation that assumes

when you are born that you will be an organ donor… unless you later

opt out by registering not to be a donor .

In Austria (which has 'opt out') approximately 98% of the population is

an organ donor. Only about 40% of Americans are registered to be an organ donor.

If one of our family members or a co-worker needs an organ transplant

we would surely wish the odds would be better than that!

The Katie Caples Invitational and the Katie Ride for Life are events that cause

participants to pause for a moment.  And consider if they can make the

commitment to someday be 'a hero'.  To save another's life.

This could be as a 'live donor' such as giving one of your kidneys or a piece of

your liver (it regrows within you and your recipient) to someone with life threatening

organ failure. Or you could give multiple lifesaving organs to many different recipients

at the time of your death.  What a gift !

Most states now have 'on line' registries. Look your state up at:

http://www.organdonor.gov/stateMap.asp

Be a Hero !

Bob, thank you for asking. We hope we can get this message to the 1300+ runners

and estimated 2,500 parents at the 2011 Katie Caples Invitational.

Best,

David Caples

President, The Katie Caples Foundation

The Katie Caples Foundation is a recognized 501c3 non-profit corporation and is registered in the State of Florida.