My name is Cheryl. I live in Des Moines, Iowa. I learned that my kidneys were failing when I was 30. The diagnosis was crescentic glomerulonephritis with IgA nephropathy. Basically, that means I had a very severe, chronic kidney infection and an immune system disorder that was quickly destroying my kidneys. The doctors told me I would need to start dialysis within two months and would need a transplant within a year. My kidney disease had never been diagnosed before that, but it's likely I had been sick with it since childhood.

Two months later I started hemodialysis. A machine filtered toxins and excess fluid from my blood 12 hours a week by way of a catheter in my chest. I thought I might have to endure that for up to two years while waiting for a transplant. Instead, I was fortunate to receive the gift of life from my friend Doug eight months later.

Doug and I became friends in high school in Massachusetts. He and his wife Anne moved to Grinnell, Iowa a few months before I was diagnosed. By some coincidence he offered, and we were a blood type match and enough of an antigen match that doctors were convinced organ rejection wouldn't be an issue. It was a ridiculous act of generosity on both their parts, and one that still baffles me slightly.

Most kidney transplant recipients spend about two weeks in the hospital, and are back to work in a month. Complications kept me in and out of the hospital for three months and led to three additional surgeries. Thankfully, the doctors sent me home the day before my 32nd birthday and I've been in near-perfect health ever since.

Six months after my transplant, I was feeling so much better I bought a bicycle and started riding. My first ride was five miles. I was exhausted, but I was also exhilarated. It felt so good to be outdoors, enjoying the warmth of the sun and moving my body that I was hooked. I started riding every chance I got. By the end of the summer I could ride 25 miles in an afternoon. The next summer Doug and I rode one day of RAGBRAI (The Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa) - 69 miles of a hilly stretch of road. Two years later Doug and I rode all 500 miles of RAGBRAI together. I never would have have dreamed that was possible.

I also became an athlete for the National Kidney Foundation of Iowa's Team Iowa (teamiowankf.blogspot.com). As a member of the team, I attended the US Transplant Games for the first time in 2004. I was amazed and proud to win a bronze in the 20K cycling criterium, and a gold in the 1K cycling time trial, in the process setting a US Games record that still stands. In the 2006 Games I received 5 medals, and last summer I took five - four gold and one bronze. Including a gold in the women’s Virtual Triathlon - a swim, run, bike time trial event where each leg took place on a different day.

Winning medals isn't what the Games are about - though it feels nice to stand on the top of a medal stand surrounded by cheering friends and family. The Games are about showing how organ transplantation can give people their lives back after suffering a life-threatening illness. They're about taking part in a community that demonstrates loud and clear the power of people to make a difference in other people's lives. They're about setting a shining example of the transformative power of organ donation.

At one point, when I had just started dialysis, I was so weak from anemia and malnutrition I could barely lift a dinner plate. Walking through a grocery store was a struggle. I used a wheelchair briefly because my legs were so filled with fluid. My husband and unsung hero Jon, had to carry me at times, because I was too weak to walk. He had to wash and brush my hair because the effort was too great for me.

But I'm strong now, stronger than I've ever been, and I have a competitive drive that I never felt for sports before.

It's the fight I learned in a hospital room that gets me through the fleeting pain of running, biking and swimming. None of it compares with the hike they made me take to the door of my room the day of my transplant. I smiled the whole bike course at the Games last summer, despite a really tough hill, because I was happy just to be there.

Competing in the Games is sheer joy. Looking around at the 1,500 or so athletes as they run, bike, swim, golf, bowl or do whatever event they are competing in, is a testament to the power of one person to change other people's lives for the better.

It's overwhelming to consider all the stories of all the Games athletes that brought them to that place. All of us have in common that one person said yes to giving the gift of life. One person who simply checks a box on a driver's license renewal form can save or improve the quality of life of 50 or more people. That's an amazing thing.

I'm the lucky recipient of that awesome gift. I compete at the Games because I can. I can because of Doug. It’s as simple as that. He's my own personal hero. I gave him my triathlon medal last summer, because he won it.

Without the transplant, who knows where I'd be right now. Still waiting and growing weaker on dialysis maybe. I might not have seen my little brother graduate from college and get married. I might not have met my nephews and niece. Maybe my husband and I wouldn't have adopted our daughter, which is the best thing I've ever done. I know I wouldn't have gotten on a bicycle one June morning and somehow become first a competitive cyclist, then a triathlete.

The power of Doug's gift is beyond words. Seven years later, I'm still trying hard every day to live up to it, and still unspeakably grateful for his compassion.