A bicycle race which happens once a week in southeast Austin took on a whole new meaning Thursday evening. Leading the race was 60-year old Ron Murray.
A year ago this same time, Murray was on a waiting list for a heart.
Around the same time, Kevin Underhill, an Austin man who Ron Murray had never met was also experiencing a life-rendering change. Underhill, an avid Austin cyclist and a rock and mountain climber, spent weeks observing cyclists racing at the Driveway Racetrack off of Smith Road in southeast Austin.
In August 2009, he finally got the courage to participate in the bike race for the first time. Several minutes into the race, Underhill crashed on his bike and suffered a severe head injury. He died in the hospital a few days later.
Underhill’s family donated his organs, reportedly saving up to five people’s lives. One of those people was Ron Murray, who received Underhill’s heart. On Thursday, the father of one finished the first lap of the same race that Underhill embarked upon last year.
“Life is just like this track. It's a big circle..if you want it to be,” said Murray.
“What I can't believe is that a year later, Kevin's heart is going to pass right over the same part of the track that Kevin fell at,” said Andrew Willis, another cyclist.
“On the medical side, it's just a new motor. On the spiritual side, it's a shared life," added Murray.
According to the Texas Organ Sharing Alliance, there are currently 108,000 Americans waiting for an organ transplant, 18,000 here in Texas. Eighteen Americans die every day while waiting for an organ transplant.
There is no age limit for organ donors. For more information on how to become an organ donor, click here: www.donatelifetexas.org
