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Jankowski, an 18-year-old who recently graduated from Sparta High School, spends every Saturday night — and in this case, Thursday night — turning left on the La Crosse Fairgrounds Speedway’s quarter-mile track. He runs in the United Auto Supply Thunderstox Division and would love to grab another checkered flag.
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Harley Jankowski climbs into his thunderstock car at the La Crosse Fairgrounds Speedway.
Erik Daily |
There is something higher on Jankowski’s list, however. A kidney.
Jankowski, you see, spends three times a week — four hours at a time — hooked up to a dialysis machine. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, he’s at the hospital by 6:30 a.m. in order to have a machine do what his kidneys once did — filter his blood.
“My kidneys don’t filter out all the stuff. It’s not that bad. I usually sleep,” Jankowski said of his routine during dialysis. “I am used to it.”
Jankowski, the nephew of former North Country Contractors Sportsman Division track champion Corey Jankowski of Tomah, Wis., was on a donor list for a possible kidney transplant, but that all changed when he turned 18.
“He was on what they called a pediatric list, but when he turned 18 they had to re-evaluate and he had to get on the adult (donor) list,” said Harley’s father, Kurt. “It’s a long process.”
In the meantime, the family has been pursuing other options, like checking to see who might be a match. Immediate family members have not been a match so far, but there is another relative who just might be. He has agreed to donate one of his kidneys if tests show he is compatible.
“I don’t think too much about it,” said the soft-spoken Jankowski.
What he does think about is racing — and his plans to study welding at Western Technical College this fall. Jankowski, who entered Thursday night 13th in the Thunderstox points (out of 38 drivers), would have been in the thick of things if not for the fact that he missed a race night.
Sparta High School’s graduation was held on a Saturday night, and Jankowski, even though he loves to race, had worked hard for 12 years to earn a diploma. He wasn’t going to miss that night.
He will be chasing 12 other drivers the rest of the season, but Jankowski is not wondering what might have been. Just like he never wondered what might have been if a kidney problem had not been detected during a routine physical in seventh grade. Harley thought he would continue playing hockey, but instead found himself dealing with far more serious issues.
A condition that leaves him tired at times — he said he took naps last year when had dialysis on Saturday mornings, then raced on Saturday nights. Other than that, Harley said he “feels normal.”
You’d never know he was any different than anyone else unless you caught a glimpse of his left arm. His left arm has a several-inch scar where doctors did a procedure — Kurt said it was a $20,000 operation — where an artery and vein where combined, allowing a place where tubes can be inserted for the dialysis procedure.
Kurt Jankowski said doctors were concerned about Harley possibly bumping the arm, but both said it hasn’t been a problem.
“We made sure his car had all of the safety equipment,” Kurt said. “We put in some extra things, a harness and (window) net. I’m not worried about him (getting hurt). Racing keeps him going.”
And Harley intends to keep racing all summer, unless, of course, a match is found for a kidney transplant. Then, he quickly said, it would be a no-brainer.
“I’d get the transplant,” Harley said. “Then I wouldn’t miss any school this fall.”
Jeff Brown can be reached at (608) 791-8403, or at jbrown@lacrossetribune.com
