Volume 5, Issue 1 - Februrary 2005

Meet Lori Geist: Our Volunteer of the Quarter

Suppose you have secondary pulmonary hypertension with limited scleraderma.

Huh? I have WHAT?

Suffice it to say that this is a fatal disease. To survive temporarily, you must be on oxygen 24/7. Your heart is enlarged, so, everywhere you go, you have to carry a pump with a five pound ice pack. The pump must never get wet. The pump contains medication that flows, via a catheter, through your neck veins, directly into your vena cava. (That’s part of your heart). You must take a cancer drug that causes the loss of your hair, even though you don’t have cancer. And you are on a waiting list for a double lung transplant that, if successful, will save your life—if it comes in time.

You are desperate to find a part-time job where you can sit most of the time. No one will hire you in spite of the fact that you are a dependable, good-humored employee. You have discovered that your home has been flooded, leaving behind mold, which is a serious threat to your life, given your medical condition. So you must sell your home at a loss, find pet-friendly housing for yourself, your three cats, and your four rabbits, who are your treasured family.

Of course, one of your top priorities (after simple survival) is volunteering to move rabbits from the Colorado House Rabbit Society’s shelter to the runs and back again, right? And naturally, you are always in a good humor, laughing and chatting happily with other volunteers.

Ridiculous, you say? Well, that’s exactly what Lori Geist does. Limited to the length of time her oxygen lasts, and loaded down with her oxygen, ice pack, and pump, Lori came repeatedly through the summer and fall months, hauling rabbits out to the runs, and back again. Of all the people who had volunteered to do this, Lori was the only one who came on a regular basis to give this badly needed outside time to our shelter bunnies. After the rabbits could no longer go outside, Lori busied herself making toys for them.

The only complaint we have ever heard Lori utter is, “I wish I could do more for the rabbits.”

We are startled, then irritated, and end up laughing, when a bunny bites through a telephone cord, leaving us on a dead line. Lori is startled—and then laughs—when a bunny bites through her oxygen tube!

It is with great admiration and awe that we honor Lori Geist as Volunteer of the Quarter.

Related stories of interest:

• Can You Help Lori Geist?

Because there are so many highly deserving volunteers to be acknowledged, we plan to recognize one volunteer every quarter.