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August 18, 2010

Barry Guimont truly has a rare zest for life. The 50-year-old motivational speaker and athlete blogs on his website BarryGuimont.com, "looking at me today, you would never guess that I have had kidney disease, undergone kidney dialysis, a kidney transplant, a near fatal post transplant infection, hepatitis, 2 separate episodes of DVT’s which ended up as serious pulmonary embolisms in my lungs, a near fatal Sepsis infection, seizures and finally brain cancer."

It's hard to imagine that anyone could survive that list of health complications, let alone go on to compete in major biking races. Guimont just completed in the Transplant Games in Wisconsin, with the hope of sharing his will to live and the power of a positive attitude reports KVOA.com.

"You've got two choices you can lay down and wait for the next shoe to drop or you can just push on and live your life and I choose to live," said Guimont.

At the start of his adult life in 1978, Guimont found out he would need a kidney transplant. Four years later he received the call, a 50-year-old woman who was a marathon runner had died and with that his chance at life. His kidney is now almost 78-years-old.

"It's been through the wars. It's failed several times from my health instances," Guimont told TKTK.

In 2008, Guimont also battled brain cancer, and he found out, once again, that his will to live was greater than the disease. He left the hospital 48 hours after surgery to remove the tumor, and 10 days rode 25 miles. "Then in a month I was doing 50, 60 miles and I was doing the top of Mount Lemmon in a month and half," he said.

The inspiring survivor now devotes his life to speaking about the importance of organ donation and says a person is capable of saving up to 30 people's lives if they are an organ donor.

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