Calgary firefighter is celebrating more than just Father’s Day

A Calgary firefighter is celebrating three years since an organ transplant that saved his life.

His survival is miraculous in more than one way.

In June 2015, Captain Roy Kloepper was near death, awaiting a liver transplant in Edmonton.

His wife Kathy, had been told to prepare for the worst, but she refused to let him quit.

“I was ready to give up,” said Kloepper, “she said, ‘if you were in a fire and your crew was inside a burning building and things got really bad, would you just hop in the truck and turn around and forget about them, or would you fight for them?”

After two surgeries, and extensive blood loss, he made it through, and recovered faster than anyone could have imagined.

In a couple years, Roy was back at work.

“I had to jump through a bunch of hoops, physically, to prove to them that I could do the job,” he said.
“According to them, or as far as they were able to determine, in terms of disability management at my job, I’m the only firefighter to have gone back to active suppression duty after a full liver transplant.”

Kloepper even tackled the very tough Firefighters Stair Climb Challenge in 2017.

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