DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM Ardell Lien, 71, gave a thumb's-up yesterday as he neared the Waikiki Yacht Club, concluding his around-the-world journey. Lien, who has had a double transplant, left the Waikiki Yacht Club on June 17, 2005. First to greet him was his wife, Maureen.

World sail for organ donors docks

Seventy-one-year-old Ardell Lien sailed the 27-foot Catalyst around the world to Ala Moana yesterday, hoping to be a catalyst for organ donation to help people like him.

Lien, believed to be the first dual heart and kidney transplant recipient to circumnavigate the globe, said: "You can return to your normal activities and do mostly anything, even sail around the world."

After spending 14 months sailing alone, the Minnesota resident pulled into the yacht club yesterday morning and was greeted with a chilled bottle of beer and was showered with lei from his wife, Maureen.

"I think the organ crisis can be solved if everyone participated and becomes potential donors. And I'm trying to encourage people to become potential donors by showing them that recovery can be total, complete," Lien said.

He wouldn't be here if someone didn't agree to become an organ donor, said Darryl Ing, executive director of the Organ Donor Center of Hawaii, who was among a group that greeted him upon his dock arrival.

In January 2003, Lien underwent a 12-hour heart and kidney transplant operation. He had been diagnosed with congestive heart failure in 1991 at a veterans hospital and told he would have no more than five years to live.

"We said, 'OK, let's smell the roses while we can,'" his wife said.

The couple sailed for 5 1/2 years aboard their 45-foot boat Moonshadow, from the inside passage of Alaska to the Straits of San Juan De Pucca in Mexico.

But Lien's condition worsened, and he struggled to walk several feet without having to rest. One of his kidneys also suffered damage due to a lack of blood supply.

"We sold Moonshadow and basically went back to Minnesota and waited for him to die," said his wife.

Friends and family encouraged Lien to go to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, where doctors told him he was a perfect candidate for a heart and kidney transplant.

He described his transplant operations as "almost bump-free."

"It's almost phenomenal. Nothing went wrong," he said.

Two years after his operation and in full recovery, Lien set sail around the world from the Waikiki Yacht Club in June 2005.

During his voyage, he made port stops including South Africa and Australia, where he spoke to people about organ donation.

At Christmas he returned to the Mayo Clinic from South Africa for a routine checkup. He stayed for six weeks to spend time with his family before resuming his voyage.

Lien said he plans to continue promoting the need for organ donors, possibly at major boat shows.

But for now he will celebrate his 44th wedding anniversary, which was on Aug. 25, with his wife on Oahu.

"I've been around the world. Let me tell you, this is the best place," Lien said.

Donors needed

A total of 377 patients in Hawaii were on the transplant waiting list as of Aug. 3, according to the Organ Donor Center of Hawaii. Almost 90 percent of them were awaiting kidney transplants.

About 12 people in the state die each year while waiting for a donated organ, according to the organization.

Those who are interested in becoming an organ donor can call the Organ Donor Center of Hawaii at 599-7630 on Oahu or (877) 855-0603 toll-free from the neighbor islands.