Liver transplant recipient and snowboarder Chris Klug, 29, took full advantage of his second chance at life by winning a bronze medal in the men's parallel giant slalom at the Olympic Games.

"Nineteen months ago, he was wheeled into an operating room for a liver transplant," said Klug's father, Warren. "Now, he's here on the bronze-medal platform. It's a wonderful thing for anybody who is going through tough times to see. We're grateful to the donor family. This is a great thing for organ donation."

Klug follows NBA basketball player Sean Elliott as a high-profile athlete who returned to competition after an organ transplant. Elliott received a living-donor kidney from his brother in summer 1999 and was back playing for the San Antonio Spurs midway through the 1999-2000 season.

"I've been very lucky," said Klug, who had been diagnosed with primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC), the degenerative liver disease that killed NFL Hall of Famer Walter Payton in 1999.

"There are 80,000 people on donor waiting lists out there and 16 of those people die every day," Klug said. "I thought for a while I would be one of them. I had been on the transplant list almost seven years. I wasn't thinking about snowboarding and winning a bronze medal. I was just hoping to live."

Klug's second chance came when the family of 13-year-old Billy Flood, who died of an accidental gunshot wound, made the wrenching decision to donate his organs to save other lives.

The boy's mother, Leisa Flood, who still has not met Klug, said she drew inspiration from Klug's exhilarating Olympic performance.

"I'll replay that tape every time I'm down," she said. "Billy is part of the light in Chris' eyes."

Other sources: NBC, NY Daily News, Akron Beacon-Journal