The Organ Trails: Wis. couple returns from 1,500 bike ride encouraging kidney donation

MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) - A couple from Wisconsin who drove down south and embarked on a 1,500 mile bike ride to raise awareness of kidney donations in February, has now returned home to Wisconsin.

Mark and Lynn Scotch returned to Madison last week after setting out on ‘The Organ Trail.’ The goals of the trip were to spread awareness of kidney donations and demonstrate how an active lifestyle is still possible after donating a kidney.

“What started the whole Organ Trail was the fact that I read that 13 people die every day in this country waiting for a kidney transplant. And I know that there’s gotta be thousands, many millions of people out there that are healthy enough to donate,” Mark Scotch said.

Ever since since learning that statistic and meeting a man suffering from kidney disease who touched their hearts, Mark and Lynn have continued to travel around the country spreading their message.

There most recent trip began in Texas, where the couple went city to city meeting with people impacted by kidney disease and spreading their message to those who could possibly donate.

“Some of the highlights I think were, we were able to have an event at a dialysis center in Texas and tour that facility and talk to some of the people who undergo dialysis there and that was very sobering because those people have a pretty tough life and if you’re on dialysis for years, sometimes there’s not a lot of hope in their eyes,” Lynn said.

While this trip was officially the last in ‘The Organ Trail,’ Lynn mentioned the two might go on a smaller trip to Minnesota in the future to meet the 2 year old who received Lynn’s kidney earlier this year.

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