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Healing after Surgery Through ChiRunning

In May 2010, a good friend of mine suffered renal failure due to FSGS (a scarring of the kidneys). He was on dialysis 5 hours a day, 3 days a week. Fortunately, I was an organ match.

Our transplant surgery was Dec 17th. Living kidney donor surgery is now done laparoscopically (overview of surgery – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jpBA8y6-cY). Our surgery was remarkably successful! Now the hard part…recovery.

Post surgery – I was acutely aware of all movement of my core area for many weeks. I put ChiWalking to the test to make walking more comfortable. Six weeks after surgery, I was cleared to begin light running. That day, armed with a mental checklist of everything Kari Wilkinson (my ChiRunning instructor) taught me…I tried a slow and gentle run with my wife. 9.5 miles later… I was all smiles and thrilled to be running again, slow but steady.

My wife was preparing for her 1st half marathon, 3rd for my 17-yr-old son and 2nd for my 13-yr-old daughter – and now my recovery race. Endurance running with your spouse and kids blesses your lives not only physically, but provides an unbeatable medium to get away from the “noise of life” and enjoy a couple of hours discussing life and dreams.

When your body is mending you enjoy enhanced immediate feedback while running (in the form of tightness and soreness). ChiRunning empowers you with a new level of self-awareness and tools to drastically reduce impact and take control of your form – soften your mid-foot strike, shorten your stride, reset your posture, lean, relax your hip rotation, etc. to address this feedback.

Feb 19th, nine weeks after surgery, we celebrated finishing our half marathon! The kidney recipient is off of all blood pressure and cholesterol meds. His blood sugars have stabilized. He is able to eat whole grains, bananas, dairy, etc. He is able to go on vacations again with his family and he has just been cleared to return to work.

Thank you for providing the techniques for healing through ChiRunning! And a big shout-out to Kari Wilkinson – my instructor!

PS. As wonderful as it is for my recipient to have a new kidney, his family is struggling with the medical expenses and loss from work. Please join me in helping Danny through the National Foundation for Transplants – http://www.transplants.org/donate/danielsoto.

Ben H

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Group of elderly people ChiWalking with Danny Dreyer

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