Steve Ferkau was born with cystic fibrosis, so breathing had always been a struggle for him. In 1997, his condition worsened, and he was put on the transplant waiting list; after three years, he received the gift of life from Kari Westberg, a 17-year-old girl from Iowa. Steve celebrated Kari's life with her best friend by climbing John Hancock Tower stairs together in the ‘Hustle Up the Hancock.’

Steve's Story

Steve Ferkau was born with cystic fibrosis. “All of my life, I’d never really understood what it felt like to breathe ‘normally.’ I really didn’t understand that I was struggling. I just didn’t know any differently – that was just life to me,” said Steve, 48, now the manager of Trading Floor Ops/Clearing Support for the Chicago Stock Exchange.

In 1997, Steve’s conditioned worsened, and his doctor advised him to consider a lung transplant. He was put on the national transplant waiting list. During the three years that Steve was on the list, he had four false alarms.

“Four times, four families, going through four devastating moments in their lives reached out and tried to save my life,” Steve remembered. On April 8, 2000, the phone rang a fifth time. A family in Iowa had lost their 17-year old daughter; her lungs would be available to Steve.

“That Iowa family remained unknown to me for almost two years until I received a letter from them,” Steve said. “My donor’s name was Kari. A month before her death, Kari had told her parents how strongly she felt about organ donation.” Steve eventually met Kari’s family and the woman who received Kari’s heart, Sandy.

“My recovery was amazing, and I now have a taste of life I’d never, ever understood,” Steve recounted. “I had never focused on my illness…I didn’t wear it like a badge. But THIS, my new lungs, I wear like a badge – I want everyone to see the gift I’ve been given and to know the girl who gave it to me.

“Anyone who knows me has probably watched me pull out my wallet and show a perfect stranger a beautiful face – Kari’s. It means so much to me to be able to tell people about her and about the gift she and her family have given me – and what organ donation does for people.”

Steve noted, “One of Kari’s precious friends, Jenn, emailed me four years to the day after Kari’s death to tell me that she had been running with Kari days before she died and wanted to run with Kari again. So we climbed the stairs at the John Hancock Tower together in the ‘Hustle up the Hancock.’”

Life is passed on in many ways with organ donation. Jenn was Kari's close friend. Jenn is Steve's close friend now.