The Rev. Paul Johnson has received not one, but three chances at life: when he was born, when he received his first kidney transplant and when he received his second.
The first kidney came from a Pittsburgh firefighter who was killed on the way to a fire, and the other was from his niece Angela, who wanted him to preside over her wedding.
"I'm trying to live my life in such a way that this fireman and my niece can be proud of me," said the pastor of Eighteenth Street Community Church.
Standing in the parking lot of Blair County Ballpark, Johnson and other transplant recipients told story after story of their encounter with the greatest act of human kindness before taking to the field as part of The Center for Organ Recovery & Education's Donate Life PA torch run.
A torch is passed from Scranton to Allentown, Philadelphia, Harrisburg, Reading, Johnstown, Altoona, Erie and finally to Pittsburgh for the opening ceremony of the 2008 U.S. Transplant Games July 12.
Johnson's brother Bob also was a kidney transplant recipient and completed the circle of giving when he died in 2002 by passing on viable bone marrow, blood vessels and veins.
"It would have been something he wanted to do," said his wife Sharon, of Altoona. "It was the right thing to do."
Cherie Dunn also knows about doing the right thing.
Her daughter Jeannie, a nurse, died in a 1999 car crash, and many of her organs were donated.
"I'm so proud of her," Dunn said of her daughter.
Donating blood is another way of giving life.
Josephine Harrington, 10, of Hollidaysburg was given a blood transfusion at birth.
''I don't really think about it a lot, but whenever I think of it, it makes me cry to know that someone donated blood just for me,'' she said.
CORE spokeswoman Holly Bulvony said the event gives donors' families a chance to remember their loved ones and find comfort in the gift of life.
As for recipients, the event acknowledges their second chance at life, she said.
And that is exactly what Dianne St. Clair of Flinton, who received a heart from a 22-year-old man, is doing.
''You live life to the fullest, beyond the fullest,'' she said of life after a transplant. ''Thanks just can't express my feelings towards my donor's family.''
On the other end, Anthony Sherron said he was relieved that a part of his wife, Earla, could live on.
''Why destroy something that is still good?'' he asked of organ donations in general. ''If you have any good organs, let somebody else enjoy life.''
For more information about organ donation, visit www.donatelife-pa.org.
Mirror Staff Writer Amanda Clegg is at 949-7030.
