EVANSVILLE — The Transplant Games of America bring together a community saved through donation and transplantation.
The six-day event for recipients and living donors allows them to celebrate the gift of life by competing in various competitions and other recreational activities. It occurs every two years and will be held this weekend in Birmingham, Alabama.
It will be especially special for Evansville resident Jess Schnur, one of the 53 competitors from Team Indiana, which has been represented at the games since 1990.
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Schnur wanted to work in medicine for as long as she can remember. She was a multisport athlete at Boonville High School and assisted in athletic training there. After graduating from the University of Southern Indiana in 2011, she worked as a CVICU registered nurse at Deaconess Gateway.
But Schnur experienced a drastic change in her life a decade ago.
She was diagnosed with liver disease at age 30. The following year, she developed cirrhosis, which is severe scarring of the liver. She was forced to cut back her hours because of her condition and eventually had to leave bedside nursing, which she never thought she would do.
"It really affected a lot of things," she said. "I couldn't hang out with my family if anybody had been sick. I couldn't drive for more than 30 minutes without being so fatigued I had to nap for several hours. Between the span of 30 and 35, everything just kind of shut down on my life."
After seven years of struggle, her life was saved.
Schnur received a liver transplant at IU Health University Hospital in Indianapolis in 2021. Her energy was restored and her itching went away the minute she woke up from surgery. After she was discharged from the hospital four days later, she was back to normalcy — she was fortunate that even before the transplant her kidneys were still working and her brain continued to function well.
Although Schnur was excited when she learned about the possibility of a transplant when she received a life-changing phone call of finding a match, reality set in that someone else lost their life.
She's forever grateful for her donor DeVille Morrow and tries to honor him daily. He was a father of five from Columbus, Ohio, who had just started a home remodeling business before his death on Aug. 12, 2021, at age 29 from an accidental overdose. His heart, liver and kidneys saved the lives of four people, including Schnur.
"The whole reason why I get to wake up every day is because of him and his family," Schnur said. "He's at the forefront of our thoughts all the time. Any time I do something unique, I'm like, 'Oh, DeVille's getting to do it with me!' We like to think that I get to do some of the stuff that he would have wanted to do."
Schnur is back to her normal life and even traveled overseas last year. She also maintains a close relationship with Morrow's mother, Ronna, who volunteers at Lifeline of Ohio, where Schnur now works as a donation support services coordinator helping make organ and tissue transplants possible.
Morrow is the main reason Schnur is competing in the Transplant Games over the coming days. She'll play pickleball, volleyball and badminton while bonding with people who have endured similar experiences. She's excited to meet living donors and donor families so she can remind them their loved ones will not be forgotten.
Most importantly, she will keep honoring her donor through her everyday actions.
"I feel like I'm living for two people," Schnur said. "Every day, you've got to be excited to get your feet on the floor and up and doing something to improve yourself or to help others. From the conversations I've had with his mama, he always wanted to make things better. Every day, I knew I had to make things better in honor of him."
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