On Saturday, Sept. 24, the Pig Bowl will be making its 2022 return, with a few changes this year.
A charity flag football game, the Pig Bowl typically consists of two teams, Oregon vs. Washington, made up of Columbia Gorge law enforcement members to raise money for a local family in need.
This year marks a few differences to the annual event, which is returning for its 19th year. Rather than a game between law enforcement, this year the Pig Bowl will be played between Columbia Gorge law enforcement vs. firefighters.
According to Oregon State Police Trooper and Pig Bowl President Michael Holloran, the new roster stems from a few factors, particularly staffing shortages being experienced by local law enforcement agencies that are requiring members to work longer hours. According to Holloran, there had been talk of canceling this year’s event, until the last-minute idea of involving another organization came to him.
“When we first started, we played COPS and SCHWABERS (Law Enforcement Vs. Les Schwab Employees), and the Pig Bowl back in the 1980s had local businesses vs. the police,” said Holloran in an email to Columbia Gorge News. “I am also aware of a group in California that does a GUNS-N-HOSES full pads football game of Law Enforcement vs. Fire. We’ve also always had a firefighter play on our Oregon Law Enforcement team, so when I brought it up to the board they all thought it was a great idea.”
Holloran reached out to the firefighter who had played with the Oregon law enforcement team in the past to see if he would be willing to be in charge of and coordinate the Columbia Gorge fire agencies. “He was all for it,” said Holloran.
As per usual, businesses and individuals can donate by pre-purchasing points, this year for either law enforcement or firefighters, at $25 a field goal and $50 or more for a touchdown. As of Sept.1, law enforcement are in the lead at 73 to 70. Those interested in purchasing points can go to Pigbowl.net, under the “Donate here” tab. Spectators at the game can purchase a single point for their time for $5 and a pig snort over the PA system. Pig Bowl is a 501c3 non-profit organization, and all proceeds will go to this year’s recipient.
The 2022 Pig Bowl recipient is Faalelei “Lei” Niko, a native of The Dalles. A local pharmacy worker, Niko is 30 years old and a mother of her 12-year-old son Malu. According to her story on the Pigbowl.net website, Niko was diagnosed with Lupus SLE, “an autoimmune disorder where the immune system attacks itself,” in 2012. After learning how to manage her Lupus, Niko was able to live her life symptom free for five years, until 2017, when she unexpectedly had to undergo heart procedure to relieve pressure due to fluid buildup.
“As scary as that was, I remember the feeling of relief when I woke up to the pressure and pain being gone,” wrote Niko on the Pigbowl.net website, “I was in the hospital for about a week and shortly thereafter started a road to recovery to get my lupus back into remission.”
In 2020, Niko began experiencing irregularities in her kidney lab work and filtering. According to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, “healthy kidneys filter about half a cup of blood every minute, removing wastes and extra water to make urine.” According to Pigbowl.net, a biopsy confirmed traces of Lupus were found in Niko’s kidney.
She underwent various treatments to stop the disease from spreading further, but due to complications from a second biopsy, Niko had to undergo emergency surgery to stop internal bleeding. Despite continuing treatments, Niko’s results once again showed Lupus in her kidney. After seeking out chemotherapy to stop the disease, Niko’s kidneys began to slowly improve, until the end of April 2022, when she was informed that she was in renal failure. After surgery for the placement of a peritoneal catheter and a fistula, Niko currently undergoes dialysis every day to survive. According to pigbowl.net, in an effort to save bed and appointment space for older patients at the Dialysis Center, Niko went through training and currently performs dialysis on herself at home.
In a slight change this year, aside from monetary donations, the Pig Bowl board is encouraging interested community members to get themselves tested to see if they are a potential match to Niko for kidney donation. “Although raising a lot of money for Lei is important, my main goal this year is to get the word out regarding kidney donation … what I would really love is to see a lot of people in our community get tested and see if they are a match for Lei,” said Holloran.
According to Holloran, multiple Pig Bowl board members are getting tested to see if they themselves are a match for Niko, “We figure if we are going to ask other people to see if they are a match, we should get tested ourselves,” he said.
According to pigbowl.net, community members with O+ blood type who are interested in seeing if they are a potential kidney donation match to Niko can go to legacy.donorscreen.org to fill out a questionnaire. Those interested will need her name and birthdate, which can be found at the pigbowl.net website. Anyone with questions regarding kidney donation can contact Legacy Transplant Services at 541-413-6555.
The Pig Bowl will take place at Sid White Field at the Wahtonka High School campus in The Dalles. Admission this year will be $5 an individual or $20 a family. Gates will open at 6:30 p.m.
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