Long distance runner Christina Austin is a life giver through organ donation.
"I’ve donated my kidney, eggs, and 75% of my liver.
Now, as Vice Chair of Kidney Donor Athletes, I’m leading 19 other kidney donors to summit Mt. Kilimanjaro on World Kidney Day 2026 to show the world that life after organ donation isn’t just possible, it can be extraordinary."
LISTEN to Christina's story in this WHAS Radio interview with Terry Meiners
visit kidneydonorathlete.org
TEXT: KDA2026KILI to 50155
"I’ve donated my kidney, eggs, and 75% of my liver.
Now, as Vice Chair of Kidney Donor Athletes, I’m leading 19 other kidney donors to summit Mt. Kilimanjaro on World Kidney Day 2026 to show the world that life after organ donation isn’t just possible, it can be extraordinary."
LISTEN to Christina's story in this WHAS Radio interview with Terry Meiners
visit kidneydonorathlete.org
TEXT: KDA2026KILI to 50155
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, you meet all kinds of fascinating people in my
line of work. Sometimes they're surprising you with amazing things
they've done. You'd never know just by looking at them.
One of them's Christina Austin. Hi, Christina, welcome to the studio.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Hi Terry, thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
You know, we were on the topic of kidney donations
a month or so ago on here, and you sent
me a nice email and said, yeah, I got a
story to tell. I've donated my kidney eggs and seventy
five percent of my liver, and I thought that's a
story to tell right there.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Absolutely, you're kind of amazing.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Thank you. Your husband's here with you as well. Nice
to see both of you happy faces. But really, by
looking at you, I wouldn't know that you don't you
gave seventy five percent of your liver. Yeah, that's astounding.
First off, I didn't know that was even a thing.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Yeah, and well, most people don't know that living donation
is a thing. You know, most people realize that in
order for somebody else to get their transplant, you know,
somebody has to die for somebody else to live. So
you know, that's that's my passion. My goal in life
is to showcase and tell other people that living organ
donation is such a powerful thing and it's a you know,
(01:09):
it's such a beautiful gift to give somebody else. I mean,
what better gift than the gift of life.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
No doubt about it. But your liver. Then you can
work with twenty five percent of a liver.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Yep, so they took seventy five percent. So I was
operating with about twenty five percent. But within two and
a half months it had already regenerated. And that's another
thing people don't realize is the liver is the only
organ to regenerate.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
It grew itself back to its original.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Size, grew itself back to its original size. Crazy, right,
The human body is just so fascinating.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
I mean, this sounds like the stuff of a science
fiction movie. And good on you for donating your eggs
and obviously a kidney. Was this to someone that you know, my.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Kidney did go to my aunt, yes, and then my
egg donation outside of the organ donation, that was you know,
complete aultruism to a family in San Diego.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
Fantastic extending life in one way or another. Absolutely, a
family decision did you. You know what happened here. We
were already working in the Kidney Donorathlete dot org REALM universe,
and you decided to do this.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Yep. I decided to do this because seeing that community
and you know, the support and all the things that
they were doing, It's like, how can I be a
part of this beautiful community? And that was just the
start of it. And now you know, here I am.
Donated my kidney in twenty twenty one, and here I
am in twenty twenty five. You know, I've run over
(02:34):
twenty half marathons. I've run over six marathons. I have
four upcoming, and we were calculating it earlier. I've run
about eight thousand miles since my kidney donation. That's roughly
running from New York to LA about four different times.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
That's pretty amazing. So World Kidney Day comes up next March,
and I understand you're not going to be in this
neighborhood right now. You'll be somewhere far away with a
lot of friends. Tell me about it.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
I am so kidney donor athletes. So myself and fifteen
other kidney donors will sum up Mount Kilman Jarrow on
World Kiney Day. So that's March twelfth, twenty twenty six.
And this is not one of only one of our
biggest fundraisers, but it's a movement, right. It's to showcase
(03:21):
our athleticism post kidney donation and show others that, hey,
we can do extreme things like people with two kidneys.
And you know, this will be the third time that
we're doing this. The first climb was in twenty twenty two,
we did it in twenty twenty four, We're going to
do it again in twenty twenty six, and we're just
going to keep climbing and show people that you know,
(03:42):
we're as amazing and do things as people with two kidneys.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
How's your body feel during a marathon? Ron, Do you
feel any deficit at all from your donations?
Speaker 2 (03:52):
No? The thing about marathon training is proper fueling and hydration.
If you don't have that, I mean you're going to
bumpy time you get to mile eighteen twenty in a marathon. Now,
right after the donation, of course, I lost the one kidney,
so hydration was a little bit of a kicker. But
you know I have a great donor care team, so
(04:12):
you know a team of medical professionals that that help
me make sure that my body is fuel and hydrated,
you know, just daily living and then of course my
marathon training and then during my races.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Yeah, hydration is the whole deal, because I've lost it
at twenty two before and twenty yeah about twenty one
and some marathons where you're like you didn't give yourself
enough electrolytes and you start feeling the pinch exactly. So
with with one kidney, that doesn't that doesn't change the
strategy of what you have to load in your body.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
No, I'm just I'm always mindful about what I put
in my body in general. But when you're a marathon
runner and you do high endurance sports, your body typically
tells you what you need. So I've become in tune
with my body since then and give my body what
it needs. So if it's more protein, if it's more
or electrolytes such as salt or potassium, my body usually
lets me know those things, all right.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
This climb on kilibin Jarrow takes a couple of days.
I've known a few people who've done it, but I've
never been there and not tried an experience like this.
Is this so like an eight hours of climbing a day,
two hours, four hours, what is it?
Speaker 2 (05:18):
It'd be roughly about eight hours a day. So we'll
start as a group on March fourth and then we'll
go to our summit on the twelfth, and then we'll
come down back from the summit on the fourteenth and
that's when we'll all really celebrate together.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
That's pretty amazing. And then do you get a vacation
or is it all just a work deal and you
come right back.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
So we'll do the climb, which is you know, amazing
experience in itself. But you're going to be in Tanzy
in Africa. I mean that's where the Serangiia is. I
mean it's a perfect opportunity to celebrate in the safari
and see all the amazing wildlife and you know, just
celebrate as a group.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
This is great. You are quite the showcase for people
who can donate organs and then thrive at the highest levels.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
So how's all of us funded?
Speaker 2 (06:05):
So the climb it's our biggest fundraiser. So usually we
have you know, we all have our own support systems.
So family, friends, sponsors helped to make this climb happen
and then of course, you know, as us donors, we
help pitch in for these climbs as well. You know,
you have to think about things like airfare and our
(06:26):
gear and things like that, so we'll pay for that,
but most climbers are able to get supporters and sponsors
to help pay for this because it is a very
expensive climb. But then you know, it also gives back
to kDa to continue the mission past killiman Jarro, because
we're going to do this amazing thing, but we want
to continue to advocate on behalf of kidney donation post climb.
(06:50):
We want to do this for many years to come.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Katia is kidney donorathlete dot org not plural kidney donorathlete
dot org. Go to that website and learn more about it,
or you can text what donation help that way.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
Yes, so of course you know, our supporters are what
makes us happen, So you can either go to kennydonorathlete
dot org. You can read everybody's bios, so we'll talk
about all the climbers. It will go into the past climbs,
or if you would love to be a supporter, you
can always text kDa. Twenty twenty six killie. So that's
kDa two zero two six ki l I two five
(07:26):
zero one five five.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
Okay, I already peak that at the end of this again,
do you do you know who has that part of
your liver?
Speaker 2 (07:32):
I do not. It was two anonymous gentlemen. The only
thing I know is he is thriving and doing well.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Oh that's awesome. Yes, there's just nothing like that. I mean,
the gift of life you're able to pass on to
someone else, and that's got to be very rewarding for you.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
It's it's honestly the best feeling ever.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
My wife and I have run enough marathons too. Do
you ever get to the point where you think, what
am I doing? It's only mile eight. My legs hurt
every marathon.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
Ever, marathon? Actually, it's when you go to sign up
for the marathon. It's like you register and it's like,
what am I thinking? Because now I have to train
for this thing.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
It is very rewarding when you come to that finish
line on that it is well, you are a walking
miracle and a great just a great representative of the
human race. To say I can use my life to
extend others. Pretty fantastic.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
Good work, Christina, keep it up and we'll all follow
your progress here. With Mount Kilimanjaro World Kidney Day next March.
You can learn more at Kidney donorathlete dot org and
text to kDa twenty twenty six ki l I, I'll
text that, or text five zero one five five to that.
(08:45):
I appreciate you so much.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Yes, I appreciate you, Terry, Thank you so much, Best.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
Of luck going forward. Great meeting both of you. Back
in a minute, I here on news Radio eight forty
whas
Well, you meet all kinds of fascinating people in my
line of work. Sometimes they're surprising you with amazing things
they've done. You'd never know just by looking at them.
One of them's Christina Austin. Hi, Christina, welcome to the studio.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Hi Terry, thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
You know, we were on the topic of kidney donations
a month or so ago on here, and you sent
me a nice email and said, yeah, I got a
story to tell. I've donated my kidney eggs and seventy
five percent of my liver, and I thought that's a
story to tell right there.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Absolutely, you're kind of amazing.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Thank you. Your husband's here with you as well. Nice
to see both of you happy faces. But really, by
looking at you, I wouldn't know that you don't you
gave seventy five percent of your liver. Yeah, that's astounding.
First off, I didn't know that was even a thing.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Yeah, and well, most people don't know that living donation
is a thing. You know, most people realize that in
order for somebody else to get their transplant, you know,
somebody has to die for somebody else to live. So
you know, that's that's my passion. My goal in life
is to showcase and tell other people that living organ
donation is such a powerful thing and it's a you know,
(01:09):
it's such a beautiful gift to give somebody else. I mean,
what better gift than the gift of life.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
No doubt about it. But your liver. Then you can
work with twenty five percent of a liver.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Yep, so they took seventy five percent. So I was
operating with about twenty five percent. But within two and
a half months it had already regenerated. And that's another
thing people don't realize is the liver is the only
organ to regenerate.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
It grew itself back to its original.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Size, grew itself back to its original size. Crazy, right,
The human body is just so fascinating.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
I mean, this sounds like the stuff of a science
fiction movie. And good on you for donating your eggs
and obviously a kidney. Was this to someone that you know, my.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Kidney did go to my aunt, yes, and then my
egg donation outside of the organ donation, that was you know,
complete aultruism to a family in San Diego.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
Fantastic extending life in one way or another. Absolutely, a
family decision did you. You know what happened here. We
were already working in the Kidney Donorathlete dot org REALM universe,
and you decided to do this.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Yep. I decided to do this because seeing that community
and you know, the support and all the things that
they were doing, It's like, how can I be a
part of this beautiful community? And that was just the
start of it. And now you know, here I am.
Donated my kidney in twenty twenty one, and here I
am in twenty twenty five. You know, I've run over
(02:34):
twenty half marathons. I've run over six marathons. I have
four upcoming, and we were calculating it earlier. I've run
about eight thousand miles since my kidney donation. That's roughly
running from New York to LA about four different times.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
That's pretty amazing. So World Kidney Day comes up next March,
and I understand you're not going to be in this
neighborhood right now. You'll be somewhere far away with a
lot of friends. Tell me about it.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
I am so kidney donor athletes. So myself and fifteen
other kidney donors will sum up Mount Kilman Jarrow on
World Kiney Day. So that's March twelfth, twenty twenty six.
And this is not one of only one of our
biggest fundraisers, but it's a movement, right. It's to showcase
(03:21):
our athleticism post kidney donation and show others that, hey,
we can do extreme things like people with two kidneys.
And you know, this will be the third time that
we're doing this. The first climb was in twenty twenty two,
we did it in twenty twenty four, We're going to
do it again in twenty twenty six, and we're just
going to keep climbing and show people that you know,
(03:42):
we're as amazing and do things as people with two kidneys.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
How's your body feel during a marathon? Ron, Do you
feel any deficit at all from your donations?
Speaker 2 (03:52):
No? The thing about marathon training is proper fueling and hydration.
If you don't have that, I mean you're going to
bumpy time you get to mile eighteen twenty in a marathon. Now,
right after the donation, of course, I lost the one kidney,
so hydration was a little bit of a kicker. But
you know I have a great donor care team, so
(04:12):
you know a team of medical professionals that that help
me make sure that my body is fuel and hydrated,
you know, just daily living and then of course my
marathon training and then during my races.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Yeah, hydration is the whole deal, because I've lost it
at twenty two before and twenty yeah about twenty one
and some marathons where you're like you didn't give yourself
enough electrolytes and you start feeling the pinch exactly. So
with with one kidney, that doesn't that doesn't change the
strategy of what you have to load in your body.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
No, I'm just I'm always mindful about what I put
in my body in general. But when you're a marathon
runner and you do high endurance sports, your body typically
tells you what you need. So I've become in tune
with my body since then and give my body what
it needs. So if it's more protein, if it's more
or electrolytes such as salt or potassium, my body usually
lets me know those things, all right.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
This climb on kilibin Jarrow takes a couple of days.
I've known a few people who've done it, but I've
never been there and not tried an experience like this.
Is this so like an eight hours of climbing a day,
two hours, four hours, what is it?
Speaker 2 (05:18):
It'd be roughly about eight hours a day. So we'll
start as a group on March fourth and then we'll
go to our summit on the twelfth, and then we'll
come down back from the summit on the fourteenth and
that's when we'll all really celebrate together.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
That's pretty amazing. And then do you get a vacation
or is it all just a work deal and you
come right back.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
So we'll do the climb, which is you know, amazing
experience in itself. But you're going to be in Tanzy
in Africa. I mean that's where the Serangiia is. I
mean it's a perfect opportunity to celebrate in the safari
and see all the amazing wildlife and you know, just
celebrate as a group.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
This is great. You are quite the showcase for people
who can donate organs and then thrive at the highest levels.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
So how's all of us funded?
Speaker 2 (06:05):
So the climb it's our biggest fundraiser. So usually we
have you know, we all have our own support systems.
So family, friends, sponsors helped to make this climb happen
and then of course, you know, as us donors, we
help pitch in for these climbs as well. You know,
you have to think about things like airfare and our
(06:26):
gear and things like that, so we'll pay for that,
but most climbers are able to get supporters and sponsors
to help pay for this because it is a very
expensive climb. But then you know, it also gives back
to kDa to continue the mission past killiman Jarro, because
we're going to do this amazing thing, but we want
to continue to advocate on behalf of kidney donation post climb.
(06:50):
We want to do this for many years to come.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Katia is kidney donorathlete dot org not plural kidney donorathlete
dot org. Go to that website and learn more about it,
or you can text what donation help that way.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
Yes, so of course you know, our supporters are what
makes us happen, So you can either go to kennydonorathlete
dot org. You can read everybody's bios, so we'll talk
about all the climbers. It will go into the past climbs,
or if you would love to be a supporter, you
can always text kDa. Twenty twenty six killie. So that's
kDa two zero two six ki l I two five
(07:26):
zero one five five.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
Okay, I already peak that at the end of this again,
do you do you know who has that part of
your liver?
Speaker 2 (07:32):
I do not. It was two anonymous gentlemen. The only
thing I know is he is thriving and doing well.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Oh that's awesome. Yes, there's just nothing like that. I mean,
the gift of life you're able to pass on to
someone else, and that's got to be very rewarding for you.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
It's it's honestly the best feeling ever.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
My wife and I have run enough marathons too. Do
you ever get to the point where you think, what
am I doing? It's only mile eight. My legs hurt
every marathon.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
Ever, marathon? Actually, it's when you go to sign up
for the marathon. It's like you register and it's like,
what am I thinking? Because now I have to train
for this thing.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
It is very rewarding when you come to that finish
line on that it is well, you are a walking
miracle and a great just a great representative of the
human race. To say I can use my life to
extend others. Pretty fantastic.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
Good work, Christina, keep it up and we'll all follow
your progress here. With Mount Kilimanjaro World Kidney Day next March.
You can learn more at Kidney donorathlete dot org and
text to kDa twenty twenty six ki l I, I'll
text that, or text five zero one five five to that.
(08:45):
I appreciate you so much.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Yes, I appreciate you, Terry, Thank you so much, Best.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
Of luck going forward. Great meeting both of you. Back
in a minute, I here on news Radio eight forty
whas
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