This story of giving just never gets old

By Ken Tingley

Like so many things in life, Ken Powers’ story is complicated. Even he admits he is still trying to unravel it all. He is still trying to understand why he started drinking at age 13 and how he  got to this point at age 53 where life is finally pretty good.

Powers stops me as we go back in time. He wants to correct the record.

When he first told his story to a Post-Star reporter in 2004, he said he started drinking at age 15.

Why did he say that, he wonders now?

It was actually 13.

Did those two years make a difference?

He thinks he was embarrassed.

Even all those years later and it still bothers him today.

Ken Powers has learned a lot about life, especially about screwing it up and then getting a second chance.

He posted this on Facebook last week:

“Today marks the 15th anniversary of our Liver Transplant Surgery!  Tom Casey is the story here. He did as selfless and kind an act on this morning 15 years ago than one could ever imagine. As I was searching my computer for pictures of Tom to post...sifting through all the years of photos...I realized that there is a good chance none of these great photos would have been possible if Tommy was not a lifesaver. My daughter's milestones, grandkids, friends, graduations, family, all the kiddos I have worked with through Northern Rivers, holidays...on and on. Thank you Tommy for my life.”

That’s a man thankful for his salvation because of someone he barely knew.

If the story sounds familiar, it’s because I’ve written about Ken Powers a few times, about how he wrecked his life drinking.In 2003, he was told he had five years to live.

He needed a new liver.

On June 29, 2008, “Chance meeting leads to gift of life” was published in The Post-Star, telling the story about how Tom Casey, an acquaintance, volunteered to give Ken Powers part of his liver.

It was major surgery

Tom Casey had a family of his own. His kids were concerned. They could not understand why he was doing something for someone he barely knew.

It is what Powers finds most amazing 15 years later. After Tom Casey came forward, after they found out he was a match, there was a two-year wait before Ken Powers was eligible for the transplant.

“He had two years to pull out,” Powers said. “Nobody would have blamed him. He had kids in high school. Nobody would have blamed him for walking away.”

Powers finally asked Tom Casey why.

“He claims that it was never a thought,” Powers said.

Fifteen years ago, Tom Casey told me the same thing.

“I’m as sure as I can be,” he told me at the time.

Getting a new liver meant getting a new life for Ken Powers.

He’s been sober 20 years.

He went back to school and counsels teenagers on the dangers of drinking.

“I could have gone into a career counseling on alcoholism and drug addiction,” Powers said. “But I wasn’t interested in helping people climb out of a hole, I wanted to prevent them from digging the hole.”

Ken Powers has a family of his own now.

And while looking for photos of Tom Casey, he was reminded of all he gaine these past 15 years.

He goes back again to his mother and father, and how he was the youngest of nine siblings. He talks about their commitment to community service and the devastation of their divorce. It’s all part of that complicated equation.

Powers talked about his own community service in recent years.

It’s clear he is living up to some unspoken obligation.

He is clearly proud of that.

There have been health challenges along the way. But he got the college credits he needed, then a Masters.

“When I picked up the diploma, it was his liver that moved me,” Powers said of Casey.

To celebrate their anniversary, Ken Powers and Tom Casey got together at a shooting range. There were some breakfast sandwiches from the Pepper Mill. It was a rare get together.

But then again, I guess Tom Casey is always with Ken Powers.

After Ken Powers posted his thanks to Tom Casey, he wrote back, “Thank you for all the kind words. I am truly thankful and humble. I am the lucky one.”

Fifteen years ago, I wrote that it made you proud to be a member of the human race again.

That goes double today.

Post-Star delivery

So Tuesday was the first day the Post Office delivered the newspaper. For the second day in a row - without a morning newspaper to pick up - Sophie and I did a short walk through the neighborhood.

I was not prepared.

We started heading home when Sophie stopped next to the mailbox of a neighbor to do some business.

It don’t think anyone saw her, but if they did, it’s all The Post-Star’s fault.

Preorder new book

Just a gentle reminder that my new book - The Last American Editor, Vol. 2 - includes 90 more columns from my days at the newspaper. The early reviews have been good.

Here is the link to preorder at Something or Other publishing.