Runner Taking on Boston After Donating Part of Her Liver to Her Gym Buddy
By: David Runners Blueprint
Tags: Workout, Gym, Runners, Buddy, Fitness

Nine years ago, Kim Schadt and Deb Calabro met at a gym in south New Jersey. The two became fast friends and bonded over their love of exercise, though at the time, Schadt, now 41, was a runner and Calabro, now 49, more of a walker.

Then, in 2012, Calabro was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease called primary sclerosing cholangitis, which causes inflammation in the liver that can lead to liver failure. Doctors told her she would need a liver transplant, and suggested that she start looking at living donors.

When she found out her friend was in need, Schadt decided to get tested to see if she was a match. When it was confirmed she was, Schadt offered to be a donor for her friend. In January of 2017, the two women underwent the necessary surgeries. After this experience, the two friends now share both a liver and a love of running.

Two years after donating part of her liver, Schadt is fulfilling a lifelong dream — running the Boston Marathon. The major marathon also coincides with National Donate Life Month, which is meant to raise awareness for eye, tissue, and organ donation.

While Calabro was not a runner before her illness, she knew she wanted to start after the transplant.

“If a runner gal is going to give me a liver, I better start running,” Calabro said. She set her sights on a half marathon.

Schadt, on the other hand, had just broken a 4-hour marathon mark just before the transplant, so she figured why not go for Boston after the recovery.

Both women wanted to pursue their recovery journey — and running — together.The first time after the surgery the two went to the gym together was four weeks post-transplant, where the two “ran” a 22-minute mile. Their goal presurgery was to complete a 5K four months postsurgery. To accomplish this, they signed up for the Hot Chocolate 5K in Philadelphia that April. The two walked the race together, as they were not recovered enough to run the full distance.

As summer of 2017 approached, Calabro picked up running, too, as she was recovering enough to go longer distances.

Just nine months after surgery, in November of 2017, the two completed the Philadelphia half marathon, which was Calabro’s first.

As Schadt wanted to tackle Boston, she knew she would also have to ramp up her solo training. One month after surgery, Schadt was ready to get back to running and build her speed back. Her first run was a 15-minute one-miler, but Schadt was determined to make a big comeback.

“It was intentional that first year, to be stronger and faster after recovery than I was going into surgery,” Schadt said. “I wanted to show [people] you can come out of something like this better than when you went into it.”

Schadt ran the Cascade Express Marathon in Washington that fall after the transplant, with a 3:42:56 finish. That would have been a Boston qualifying time, but the race happened after registration closed. Even if it had been earlier, she knew she wouldn’t be ready to race the best marathon she could by the following April. So she set her sights on Boston 2019.

“I never took training seriously until after [the transplant],” Schadt said. “I think my running has totally evolved.”

[Want to start running? The Big Book of Running for Beginners will take you through everything you need to know to get started, step by step]

Schadt and Calabro hug at the finish line of the Philadelphia Half Marathon — Calabro’s first half.

Kim Scadt

“By a year, donors and recipients should be back to normal,” David Goldberg, M.D., at Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and one of the physicians that worked with the women said. “[Schadt’s] normal just makes the rest of us seem lazy.”

Inspired by Schadt, Calabro says there is a marathon in her future.

The two continue to run together, and while Calabro says she is a “turtle runner,” and that Schadt is an “elite runner,” they still go for recreational runs together. They will also push Schadt’s brother Matty, who has cerebral palsy, in a running chair (they recently got with help from Ainsley’s Angels) in races together.

Calabro (left) and Schadt (right) push Matty in the Love Run.

Kim Schadt

And, for now, its Calabro’s turn to support Schadt. She will be cheering Schadt on in Boston come Marathon Monday, and you’ll be able to spot the two in matching shirts — Schadt’s will say “Donor” and Calabro’s will say “Recipient”.

“For somebody to say, ‘I’m going to randomly give you a piece of my liver and have a huge scar,’ it’s a lot,” Calabro said. “She’s literally my angel.”