Teacher, Olympian, Spokesman for National Donor Day: Mike Peplinski is Credit to the Teaching Profession

Teacher, Olympian, spokesman for National Donor Day:
Mike Peplinski is credit to the teaching profession

By Sarah Jancich
Assistant editor

Eau Claire educator Mike Peplinski started curling when he was in 4th grade - the same age as the students he teaches at Locust Lane Elementary School.

Teacher Mike Peplinski works with 4th grade student David Gregory at Eau Claire's Locust Lane Elementary School.

Curling, a sport that made its Olympic debut at the 1998 Winter Games in Nagano, Japan, can be described as lawn bowling on ice. Instead of rolling balls, curlers slide stones on a sheet of ice. Players score points when their stones end up closest to the "button," the desired target painted into the ice.

During his 18-year curling career, Peplinski has traveled to competitions in Scotland, Bulgaria, Switzerland and Japan, as a member of the 1998 U.S. Olympic team. Peplinski and his team finished in fourth place.

Peplinski returned from Nagano with troubled health. In 1994, he was diagnosed with Idiopathic Membranous Nephropathy. "These three long words basically meant that my kidneys weren't functioning at 100%."

At the diagnosis, his kidneys functioned at 70%. By the time he returned from the Olympics, Peplinski's kidneys functioned at 14%. Doctors decided that he needed a kidney transplant.

Peplinski waited until June to have the surgery so that he could recover without missing school. He also didn't have to wait for organ donation because his father-in-law, William Brendel, gave part of his kidney to Peplinski.

After the surgery, Peplinski took a year off from curling to recover. By 1999, he formed a new team and started preparing for the 2002 Olympic games.

The team trained by traveling to weekend competitions to work on strategy and mental focus. The teammates also physically conditioned for the sport.

In December 2001, the team competed in the US Olympic trials in Salt Lake City. Since the team didn't finish in the top spot, it won't compete in the 2002 winter games. Peplinski said he would love to be part of the Olympics this month in Salt Lake City, but added. "It was an honor just to go to the trials as one of the top seven teams in the nation."

Aside from competing in the sport, Peplinski enjoys sharing it with others. "I take my students on field trips where they can learn more about it," he said. "Even though Wisconsin and Minnesota are hotbeds for curling, few people know anything about it."

Peplinski is not just promoting curling these days. He also is actively promoting organ donations.

A action photo of Peplinski on ice is featured on a poster promoting Wisconsin's National Donor Day, which is celebrated annually on Valentine's Day. (The poster is partially displayed at the top of this article.) The special day is a project of the United Auto Workers and Saturn. WEAC is a sponsor of the event.

Peplinski recognizes that he was one of the lucky ones. His father-in-law was willing to donate and was compatible. More than 80,000 Americans, however, currently await a lifesaving organ transplant. An average of 16 people die every day because a suitable donor is not found in time.

Peplinski is urging people to sign donor cards and to think about volunteering as living donors when opportunities arise.

"It was important to me to promote the awareness of the fact that if people can find living donors they won't have to go through the struggles of a worsening condition and being put on a long waiting list," he said.

Posted February 12, 2002