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2023 Tour Local Event Honorees for Round Rock
The Cade R. Alpard Foundation for Pediatric Liver Disease, Inc.
Cade’s Foundation is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization established in 2003 by Scott and Jennifer Alpard for the purpose of supporting and funding the various programs that will make a difference in the lives of children with liver disease. Our mission is to find a cure for pediatric liver disease through the support of research and education.
When Cade was first diagnosed with biliary atresia, we knew he would eventually require a liver transplant. We didn’t think he would need one this soon, but we are thankful he received a healthy liver and now can get back to being a normal, happy, active child.
During the rollercoaster of a year one of the most difficult parts was how helpless and frustrated we felt. The most difficult thing a parent can do is put the life of their child in someone else’s hands. Obviously, this is what was required for Cade to receive the wonderful and compassionate care that everyone at Texas Children’s Hospital provided (in spite of his occasionally demanding and frustrated parents).
During this ordeal, we decided we had to do something that would allow us to feel like we were involved or at least making some kind of difference. We met numerous families and got to know other brave, courageous, and beautiful children that had received a liver transplant or who had some type of liver disease. We felt that we could and should do something to make a difference in the lives of not only these children, and their families, but in the lives of others in the years to come.
In addition, we learned no other organization existed that was solely focused on finding cures for these devastating illnesses. As a result, we created a Foundation, in Cade’s name, focused on pediatric liver disease. It is with a great amount of pride and appreciation that we use Cade’s name for this worthwhile endeavor.
As Title Honoree, The Cade R. Alpard Foundation for Pediatric Liver Disease, Inc will be recognized at each local event along the 2023 Lone Star Circle of Life route.
Luciano “Luke” Marazzo – Heart transplant recipient
“My brother Luke received a heart transplant at the age of 21. He was born with a congenital heart defect called hypoplastic left heart syndrome, or HLHS. He was quarantined years before COVID even began and missed out on a good portion of his high school experience. After his transplant, he regularly went out, spending time with his friends while attending classes at ACC. The amount of growth I have seen from him in the two short years after his transplant has inspired me to become an advocate for organ donation in my professional life, so that others can have the same opportunity to thrive as he has.
Thanks to the generosity of Luke’s organ donor and their family, he is able to live his life to the fullest and I am able to continue being as good a big sister to him as I can be.”
~ Emily Marazzo, Texas Sharing Alliance staff member and Luke’s big sister
Texas State University Radiation Therapy program – Be The Match Supporters
The Texas State University Radiation Therapy program has been a supporter of Be the Match for over a decade. A close colleague and friend of the program, Dr. Lawrence Estaville was a passionate supporter and advocate for the program, and we were privileged to come alongside him to help spread the word amongst college aged students of the important role they could play in someone’s fight against this disease.
Alongside Dr. Estaville, the radiation therapy program helped organize many functions such as Bra Night and Boxer Night, as well as concerts that were entertaining to the students, but also brought the mission of Be the Match to the event in order to educate.
The radiation therapy program also began an outreach program where students became volunteers and traveled to other universities with a large number of minority students in order to fill the disparity gap in donors. The program traveled to El Paso, Harlingen, and Laredo to name a few places and through their efforts, registered thousands of donors from a variety of ethnic backgrounds. Although Dr. Estaville has now passed, we know that his memory will live on and our efforts will continue until there is a cure for this disease.
Genie Kilpatrick – Organ Recipient
Who grabs a tennis racket on their way to out the door to a double lung transplant? Someone who believes the tennis racket may play a role in saving her life. Genie received the call for a transplant in the early morning hours of July 17, 2017, and her tennis racket was the first thing she grabbed to take with her in the hopes of playing tennis again. Genie’s life story, her challenges, and her path to overcoming those debilitating challenges led the Texas Capital Area Tennis Association to award her the CATA Inspiration Award for 2019.
For many, TENNIS has been a big part of our lives. For Genie, TENNIS has always been a big part of her life, but it also played a role in saving her life. After taking her first lessons at early age, Genie began her tennis journey playing competitively in high school and USTA TX junior tournaments. Tennis provided her with the opportunity to receive a scholarship at Stephen F. Austin on a competitive nationally ranked team and Genie acquired a doubles national ranking #17 in NCAA II. After college tennis, Genie competed in CATA and USTA tournaments singles and doubles and achieved USTA TX singles and doubles rankings.
Tennis was also Genie’s career – she coached high school tennis for 28 years at Leander HS, Clear Brook HS and Del Valle HS. Her accomplishments as a tennis coach were recognized by the TTCA in 2005 as “4A Coach of the Year” when her Clear Brook HS Team went to State in ’95. Genie says of her accomplishment in coaching high school tennis that, “I introduced kids to the sport of a lifetime and enjoyed seeing them improve.” Genie loved coaching tennis and sharing her love of tennis with her players.
It was toward the end of her teaching career in 2010 that she began to notice the symptoms of shortness of breath and difficulty in breathing. She was out of breath with everyday activities and playing tennis became impossible. She was first diagnosed with Pulmonary Hypertension. After 5 years of treatment, her condition worsened. In late 2016, she was diagnosed with a rare and deadly pulmonary disease called pulmonary capillary hemangiomatosis. The only option was a double lung transplant.
Genie was placed on the transplant list and received the call that she had a donor on July 30, 2017. Her tennis racquet was the first thing she grabbed to take with her to Dallas…a physical reminder of the possibility of playing tennis again. Her post-transplant recovery in the hospital was a challenging 55-day journey but on day ten, she was able to hold her racquet in her hand. Within days, Genie was walking the halls w/her racquet, dreaming of playing soon. Thankful to her donor for her gift of life, Genie said, “Because someone unselfishly decided to be an organ donor, I have been given a second chance – another swing at life! I am so grateful and motivated to make my donor proud.” Competing in tennis again was at the top of her list along with helping spread awareness of organ donation.
With her recovery each day was a challenge, but Genie returned home to Austin with the amazing gift of new lungs. She has been fortunate to have an incredible support group of friends and family who have supported her through her years in tennis and helped provide encouragement during her recovery post-transplant. Genie trained at the gym, hiked the greenbelt, started running again, and finally… was out on the court playing the game she loves! In 2018, Genie competed in the Transplant Games of America and won a GOLD medal for Texas LIFE WARRIORS in Tennis and Table Tennis. The next year, she competed in the World Transplant Games and won a GOLD medal for Team USA!
After Genie’s double-lung transplant, she became a volunteer for DONATE LIFE to help grow awareness of organ donation. She did all she could, passionately, because as she said “if there would be anyone who would be in the same situation as I was, I hope that they may be given the ultimate gift of LIFE through organ donation.”
She has said “that it was tennis and my donor who saved my life.” Once she was on the road to recovery there was no slowing Genie down. She lived the next 5 years to its absolute fullest, helping others, volunteering, playing tennis, playing pickleball, competing in the Olympic Transplant Games, traveling, listening to music, starting book clubs and reading books galore and savoring relationships with friends and family. She never took a day for granted and thanked her donor every day for the precious GIFT OF LIFE she received.
Rowan Sebek- Organ Recipient
Rowan was born with a rare liver disease, Biliary Atresia. By two months old, she had already experienced so many appointments, lab draws, scans and her first major surgery. This surgery, a Kasai Procedure, was unsuccessful in helping her liver to function properly and she was sent to Houston for a liver transplant evaluation.
While there for more imagining and testing, Rowan was admitted to the hospital as she was too sick to wait for a transplant at home. At this point she was unable to tolerate anything by mouth and was on IV nutritional therapy. She was as yellow as a highlighter from the jaundice and at five months old was placed on the list for new liver.
She waited 10 days before receiving her life-saving gift. Within hours the jaundice had cleared and her new liver was functioning perfectly. She is now 13 years old and is thriving. There have been very few hospitalizations since her transplant and she lives her life to the fullest every day.
She continues to have her labs drawn and takes medication twice daily; however, she does not let that slow her down. Rowan participates in club swimming and is eager to swim in the Transplant Games of 2022 to honor her donor. In prior years she was able to participate in the 2018 Transplant Games and would have participated in the 2020 Games should they not have been cancelled.
Rowan is ecstatic her dad is riding in the Lone Star Circle of Life Tour. Our family is forever grateful for her liver donor and their family for this gift.
Kimber Marshall – Platelet Donor
Donating platelets helps me keep my mom’s spirit alive and her memories close. It was back in 2003 when she was critically ill with interstitial lung disease when her lungs started to hemorrhage. As a life-saving measure, her doctor administered platelets. It was at that moment by my mom’s bedside watching platelets drip into my mom’s body as she lay in ICU fighting for her life that I decided to switch from being a blood donor to a platelet donor.
Here we are 20 years, 76 gallons, later and I did not think back then I would become a life-long platelet donor but, I am sure glad I’ve done so for this long! And, I have no plans on stopping! Month by month, I am keeping my mom’s spirit alive and doing my part in helping patients out there who need platelets for whatever medical circumstance they are facing! I am glad to be part of We Are Blood! Thank you!
David Allan Skarda – Organ Donor
On October 23, 2021, my younger brother, David Allan Skarda, age 54, passed away unexpectedly after suffering a massive stroke, which ceased his brain activity. Our parents, Eileen and Paul, passed away in 2014 and 2015, respectively, and I am his only sibling. David was a master mechanic, an avid gamer, loved to cook spaghetti and carne guisada, and he was a HUGE animal lover.
We had a Bully, Jackson, who was always by David’s side, night and day. Jackson crossed the Rainbow Bridge on February 16, 2023, at the age of nine. David and Jackson are now together, forever.
While being with David at the hospital, I was approached by the Texas Organ Sharing Alliance (TOSA) about donating David’s organs. I listened intently to a member of TOSA as she explained the who, what, when, how, and why of organ donation. When she was finished, I knew it was the right thing to do – I had no hesitation.
Through David’s organ donation, one person received his lungs, and two people received his kidneys. Through South Texas Blood and Tissue, David’s corneas went to a blind man who can now see again, and his tissues went to 75+ people. David is my champion, my hero!
I did not get a chance to say goodbye to David, and that hurts my soul every day. I love David with all my heart, and I miss him so much, but I am comforted that I know I will see him one day soon. With the two-year anniversary of his passing coming up, I am honored that he will be honored and remembered in this special way.rn
Donald Karschnik – Kidney Donor
“Donald was my kidney 21 years ago. He is a quiet and kind person who was selfless in a situation when he could help me – his only sibling. I am forever grateful for Don.”
~ Kevin Karschnik, Don’s brother and kidney recipient
James Williams, VI – Organ Donor
“I want to honor my son, James Williams, VI, who has always been kind, caring and compassionate, and thanks to him I am living life to the fullest every day.
I found out that I was in need of a kidney transplant in December of 2021 due to 44 years of chronic kidney stones and high blood pressure. I started the process to be evaluated so that I could be placed on the kidney transplant list. Due to decreased kidney function, I had to start peritoneal dialysis in July of 2022. I was experiencing issues, but since I was not critically ill, I was told that the wait for a kidney was expected to be 5 to 7 years.
My husband and middle son volunteered to be tested to donate first, but were not eligible to donate, so my oldest son, James, who was 27 at the time, registered to be a donor and started the process to be evaluated. Baylor Scott &White in Temple performed extensive testing and in October he got the news that he was a match. The surgery was scheduled on January 18, 2023.
Our surgeries were successful and he spent two nights in the hospital. After recovering for several weeks, he returned to work and his normal activities. Eight months later we both feel great and we are both back to doing everything we did before transplant. Had it not been for his selfless act, I would still be on dialysis and waiting for a kidney.
He is my hero and I will be forever grateful that he gave me the gift of life!
Michelle Hernandez – Organ Donor
My sister was a great daughter, sister to four siblings, aunt to six nieces & nephews. She was hard working and very giving to her family.
Michelle had a Cerebral Arteriovenous Malformation rupture June 2015. She had just turned 45, she was very healthy, so this was a shock. She survived and went through six months of therapy.
Her 2nd surgery scheduled in December 2015 to remove another. During the procedure she had a large stroke with intracerebral hemorrhage. She never woke up and was pronounced brain dead.
We decided to donate and try and save lives from our great loss. She will forever live in our hearts and she is greatly missed every day. I personally can say that donating a part of her has given me great peace and I have no regrets. My family and I have become donors from this experience and I encourage you to do the same.
Matthew DeLaRosa – Tissue Donor
Matthew was funny, kind hearted, talented in shooting, motorcycle riding, work outs, the iron man competition. Obviously the best son, brother, uncle, grandson, nephew, cousin and best friend you would ever meet.
Todd Monsen – Organ Donor
Rider Matt Shane honored his kidney donor and fellow team mate, Todd Monsen at the Round Rock event.