Moab Runner Donates Left kidney, Runs 157 Miles To Spotlight Living Donation Crisis
November 11, 2025 — by Transplant News
USA: Megan Barrowclough donated her left kidney in November 2023 to her childhood friend Regina and then set out on an audacious run to dramatize what living donation can make possible. After testing confirmed a match, doctors in Rochester, Minnesota cleared Megan for surgery. She embarked on a multi-day ultrarun to show that a living kidney donation need not end an active life and to lift up the plight of those waiting for transplants.
Beginning in Moab, Barrowclough followed the Kokopelli Trail and then the riverfront trail into town, covering roughly 157 to 158 miles over four days on the trek home to Mesa County. The route was planned as a promise and publicity campaign; family, friends and a crew met her along the way to keep spirits high, while strangers on the river trail stopped to ask about the message she was carrying. Her campaign aimed to convert curiosity into action and to get more people tested as potential living donors.
Megan trained carefully and consulted medical specialists before the run; physicians and her nephrologist cleared her to continue running with two nonnegotiable rules: stay well trained and remain hydrated. Her fundraising and awareness push emphasized stark statistics: more than 90,000 people are waiting for a kidney transplant nationally, many facing years on dialysis and waits of three to five years, while more than 48,000 transplants were performed last year. The run was intended to illuminate both the need and the feasibility of living donation.
As Regina recovered, friends tracked small, real-time signs of progress from Wisconsin, and Megan said the visible recovery underscored why she made the decision. She urged people to learn about living donation, ask questions and consider getting tested; if donation itself is not an option, she encouraged sharing the message. The effort blended personal sacrifice, endurance sport and public health outreach to place transplant and living donors squarely in the public eye.
