Erin Saotome, an Avon Lake native, is back home in Detroit following a week-long trip to complete the One Kidney Climb, which involved hiking three volcanoes in Central America.
Saotome and other Kidney Donor Athletes (KDA) members traveled to Guatemala to raise money and awareness for living organ donation.
Earlier this month, before the trip, Saotome talked to News 5 Anchor Damon Maloney for this report.
According to the organization's website, its mission is "to promote the gift of life through living kidney donation among active individuals and athletes by building a community that inspires, supports, and educates people about the experience of kidney donation."
The One Kidney Climb is also a fundraiser for KDA, which helps sponsor athletes' first event after surgery.
"The biggest point of these One Kidney climbs is to show everyone that you can still live a full active life with one kidney," Saotome said. "And your quality of life doesn't have to change at all."
Saotome, a speech pathologist at a hospital, took up long-distance running as an adult and donated her right kidney in 2022.
Before the trip, Saotome said that climbing the volcanoes would put her to the test, but she had been tested before. About 13 weeks after donating her kidney, she ran the Cleveland Half Marathon.
She said the climbs were grueling but rewarding.
"Over about the course of five days, we climbed up three volcanoes. The first one was kind of a bit of a warm-up hike. It was not quite as high. A little bit easier of a hike, and we got to make pizza on the volcano rock. So that was fun," Saotome said. "And then the second one was quite a bit higher (and) quite a bit steeper. But we all made it to the top and spent the night at a base camp. And then in the morning, we were able to summit. And at that summit, we were right next door to an active volcano. So, we were able to watch it erupt. It's kind of like Old Faithful. It's about every 15 minutes it erupts. The views were incredible. The company was incredible. Everyone coming together for one purpose was really exciting."
She said the final volcano was the hardest.
"We gained about 5,000 feet and five miles. So it was almost straight up and loose rock," she said. "So it was physically quite a challenge. But emotionally and mentally, it was very powerful for all of us, too."
She said nothing surprised her physically.
"Honestly, the biggest thing that surprised me was just the kindness of everyone and you know. It's not easy to put 20 strangers together and have everyone get along," Saotome said. "But it just goes to show how like-minded people are able to bond, especially coming together for a higher purpose."
Saotome said her short-term goal is to start triathlons and to do the One Kidney Climb of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.
"But that will probably be long-term. "(It's) just my kids are still young. It's not so easy to leave a full-time job and three kids for ten days at a time," Saotome said.
