Visitors to share transplant stories at P.I. meet and greet

    Greg Gelinas didn’t have the energy to go fly fishing or do many of the other things he loved because his kidneys were failing. Thanks to a donor’s decision to donate a kidney, Gelinas is now as active as ever. He and his friend Martha Black, also a kidney transplant recipient, are visiting every dialysis center in Maine by bicycle to share their stories and raise awareness about the importance of organ donation.
    Both have competed in the transplant games, a national athletic competition for transplant recipients. Gelinas and Black will visit The Aroostook Medical Center’s County Dialysis Center at North Street Healthcare in Presque Isle, on Saturday, July 25 at 10 a.m. to talk with dialysis center patients and the community.
    Prior to the “Meet & Greet,” at 9:30, the community is invited to bike through town with the pair. The short bike ride will begin at the Presque Isle Area Chamber of Commerce just south of town and end at County Dialysis Center.