Marathon cyclist who gave kidney will visit Medina to promote organ donor awareness

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 9 September 2021 at 9:05 am

Provided photo: Mark Scotch, 65, of Wisconsin will be coming to Medina on Sept. 29-30 as part of his second annual marathon cycling trip – “The Organ Trail.”

MEDINA – A marathon cyclist from Wisconsin will be coming to Medina on Sept. 29-30 as part of his second annual ride to highlight kidney disease, living donor awareness, and post-donation functionality.

Mark Scotch, 65, from Plover, Wisconsin donated a kidney in September 2020 to a person in New York. Scotch has continued to live a very active lifestyle – with one kidney.

He will begin the second “Organ Trail” bike ride on Sept. 19 in Martha’s Vineyard. From there in Massachusetts, he’ll travel into New York City, go through upstate New York, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan and come back to his hometown in central Wisconsin. He expects to end the ride on Oct. 16.

Scotch will arrive in Medina on Sept. 29 and stay overnight. He will join Orleans Community Health staff and leaders for a news conference on Sept. 30 at the Lake Plains Dialysis Center in Medina.

This will be Scotch’s second marathon bike trip this year to promote the cause. He already rode 1,500 miles in May from Madison, Wisconsin – the home of his transplant center – to Natchitoches, Louisiana, home of his recipient via a voucher donation.

His goal is to raise awareness for living kidney donation and the National Kidney Registry Voucher Program.

“The Organ Trail is all about generating awareness of the need for kidney donors, especially living kidney donors,” Scotch said on the Organ Trail website. “But it’s also about showing people that even with one kidney, you can still lead a life full of activities, even if those activities are sustained and vigorous.”