Christer Ahl
Dear handball friends and followers of Team Handball News:
You may have noticed that after many years of regularly posting commentaries at Team Handball News, I am now virtually absent. One of the reasons for this has been my health situation. Twenty years ago, I lost a kidney to cancer. This situation has been manageable, but now, quite suddenly, my remaining kidney has begun faltering. The situation in the U.S. is such that the waiting list for kidney transplants from deceased donors is very long. I am told that I should expect to wait at least 5-7 years, and my doctors have warned me that there is a big risk that at that time I will no longer be healthy enough to benefit from a transplant.
Therefore, I am being urged by my doctors and kidney donation organizations to make an all-out effort, with great urgency, to try to reach out through all possible contact nets, in the hope that this will identify a living, voluntary kidney donor. So, it is for this purpose I am writing to you today. I am asking you to use your contacts and information, in the hope that it would yield some results. If you have any such leads to an offer, I would be very grateful if you would contact me at christer.ahl@comcast.net
Thanks for your support,
Christer Ahl
[For those of you who do not know Christer personally, he has been involved with handball for over 50 years, first in his native Sweden and later as one of the pioneers developing the sport in the U.S. He was the chief of referees for the U.S. and the Pan American Team Handball Federation (PATHF) for over 20 years and was instrumental in bringing officiating standards up to higher levels. These efforts did not go unnoticed and resulted in his election as an IHF Council Member as the President of the IHF Rules & Referees Commission. Few people have done more for the sport and perhaps no one has had more influence in ensuring that the rules of the game have adapted to the changing times. Please do whatever you can to spread the word regarding his situation- John Ryan]