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WEDDING WILL FEATURE TRANSPLANTED LOVE

NICOLE BRODEUR

SEATTLE TIMES STAFF COLUMNIST
THOMAS JAMES  HURST  /  THE SEATTLE TIMES
Among the guests at Kirstem Kimes wedding will be recipients of organs from her brother, Kristopher, who died after being beaten in the MardiGras riots.

Her parents and grandparents will be there, of course. So will her cousins and friends. But there will also be some special guests watching as Kirsten Kime walks down the aisle this Saturday.

Larry. He has the heart. Ray and Jessie. They each have a kidney. Martha has the pancreas. Rick, the lungs. They are Kime's other family. They are the people who received life-saving organs after Kime's brother, Kristopher, 20, was beaten to death during the 2001 Mardi Gras riots in Pioneer Square.
In all, the Kimes donated a dozen of Kristopher's organs. Some recipients wrote notes of thanks. Others remained strangers.
But in the five years since Kristopher died, five recipients have brought needed light to his family as it moved through the darkness of loss, and the legal system.
0n Feb. 27, Jerell Thomas was sentenced to 10 years in prison for the attack on Kime, who was trying to help an injured woman out of the mess.
Thomas originally received 15 years for second-degree felony murder. That sentence was overturned. Thomas pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter, and his sentence was cut by a third.
"EverythIng is so unfair," Kime's grandmother, Beverly Ann Schukar, told me the other day, her voice breaking.
But it feels a little less so with a wedding just days away, and with those who lived because of Kristopher's "death included in the plans.
"1 didn't have to think twice about inviting them," Kirsten Kime, 22, said Thursday. "They are part of my family. There wasn't even a question."

 
But are they filling a part of her family that was lost? . "It feels kind of like having my brother there," she said, her voice trailing off. "I don't know. ... It's hard."
Ray Page, 63,. who received one of Kristopher Kime's kidneys, won't be able to make it. But the Wenatchee salesman sent a check to Kirsten and her fiancé, Erin Gregg, with instructions to spend the money on margaritas.
"It was the least I could do" Page sald.
He remembered the morning he woke up after transplant surgery and was told that his new kidney was from a 20 year-old man who had died of head trauma.
"That's when all the lights carne on," Page said, "that it was the boy from Mardi Gras." He wrote to thank the family through donor agency LifeCenter Northwest, and received a note back from Kim Kime-Parks, Kristopher's mother. They met a few months later.
"Her family grew and my family grew, you betcha," said Page, who attended a gathering for what would have been Kristopher's 21st birthday, and another on the anniversary of his death.
Page stayed close as Thomas' sentencing neared, and e-mailed Kinie-Parks with his disappointment over the lighter sentence.
"He'll probably get out in three," he said. Better to focus on the bright side.
"Without sounding corny, the transplant gave me a second chance at life," Page said. "Now, instead of sitting there on dialysis, you take 27 pills a day."
And it's a funny fraternity Page has found himself in.
"I'm the kidney, Larry's the heart, another guy is the pancreas," he said. "And we are trying to find. the guy who got his liver, but he hasn't joined the party."
 
 
 
 
 
 

He should. For Page and the other recipients, life feels sometimes like being a character in "The Wizard of Oz," hoping for something so vital and getting it, all the while helping a young woman through some of her darkest days.
And if you ever wondered whether to become a donor, well, one chat with Kirsten Kime or Ray Page and you won't wonder again.
There already are plans to gather again after the wedding. On April 27, the Living Legacy Foundation will hold its annual luncheon, part of National Donate Life Month.
For more information or to register onIine as a donor, go to www.livinglegacyregistry.org.

"1 didn't have to think twice about inviting them. They are part of my family. There wasn't even a question."

KIRSTEN KlME, Sister 01 Krlstopher Kime

There's a lot we don't care to remember about the 2001 Mardi Gras, one of Seattle's most shameful nights. Then-Mayor Paul Schell was sleeping; the police were standing back. And one young man who stepped in to help someone died doing so.
Every once in a while, you need a wedding. You need to see two people commit together to the unknown: That Kirsten Kime will do it with those her brother saved looking on seems the best way to come out of the darkness..
"It. brings me comfort to know that they are invited .and are trying to come or will be there to support me," she said. "It helps:'
 

Nicole Broleur's column appeafs Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Reach her at 206-464-2334 or. nbrodeur@seattletimes.com. 
She plans to register.
 
 
 
 
This article was printed in the Seattle Times, Mar 26, 2006
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