Body hunched over his Trek bike, wind whistling through his ears, the miles clicking by at a 20-mile-an-hour pace, Brett Hogan, 25, feels fully alive. No one would ever know that the cyclist they see whizzing past overcame kidney disease and now lives with a successful kidney transplant.

This cyclist, coach and college student is raising awareness for patients suffering from kidney disease—and he’s doing it all from his bike.

The Diagnosis

Brett was diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease when he was 17. A member of the high school swim team, he had been having blood pressure problems before doctors finally diagnosed him with the genetic disorder.

With his kidneys in steady decline, Brett was finally placed on dialysis in 2003.  “I learned a whole lot about my body and closely followed the diet,” he says. “I made it a goal to be as healthy as I could, but there were limits.”

Brett was still able to ride his bike, but not as much as he wanted. “ I couldn’t go as fast, and I always had to watch my heart rate,” he says. “My body would want to sweat, but I couldn’t let it. I could do the long rides, but would have to take stops more frequently and couldn’t go for as long as my friends could.”

A Perfect Match

Last August, his life changed. After 14 months on dialysis at Renal Care Group’s Eastside Center in Wichita, Kan., he got the call that a kidney was available.

“It didn’t take long to line up everything and for me to decide that it was the best thing I could do,” Brett says.

Today he feels better than ever. “It went so quickly. You’re in one night, the next morning you wake up and have a new kidney.” Brett’s kidney turned out to be a perfect match, and five months later he claims to feel a thousand times better. “It has been amazing. There’s no comparison to the way I used to feel.”

Two weeks after transplant surgery, the resilient patient rode 53 miles.

Tour of Kansas

This summer, he’s planning a statewide bike ride to raise awareness of the 2006 U.S. Transplant Games, a four-day athletic competition open to anyone who has received a lifesaving solid organ transplant—heart, liver, kidney, lung, pancreas or bone marrow. Transplant recipients of all ages compete for gold, silver and bronze medals in numerous sports and events, including swimming, racquetball, track and field, bowling, basketball, golf—and cycling.

Brett and fellow kidney recipient Chris Paxton plan to visit as many dialysis centers as possible in Kansas in a two-week period. “Nothing is set in stone yet, but we want to build awareness of the games and raise support.”

The idea came in a brainstorming discussion with Randy Williams of the National Kidney Foundation. “I was looking to get involved in the organization and build awareness of kidney disease,” Brett says. “Randy and I threw some ideas around and came up with some type of a bike ride.”

Brett has participated in similar rides for the American Diabetes Association and National Multiple Sclerosis Society. “I thought, why couldn’t we get a ride together for our cause.”

Youthful Encouragement

When he’s not training for the 2006 Games, Brett is a student at Wichita State University, where he will graduate in the summer of 2006 with a degree in elementary education. Educating and encouraging young people is one of his life and career goals, and he currently serves as one of the assistant coaches for a junior cycling team.

He sees his successful transplant as a way to be a positive force for other people.  “I’m a person who always sees the silver lining, and I think there’s no choice but to have a good attitude. I got a second chance with my transplant and I don’t want to waste it.”