PULSE UP AND RUNNING WEEK-LONG ATHLETIC COMPETITION SHOWCASES TRANSPLANT RECIPIENTS.

Fifteen months ago, Vicki Thomas couldn't be sure she would walk again, much less run. The 45-year-old Glendale resident, who suffered from primary pulmonary hypertension, underwent a double lung transplant in March 2001.

Thomas has recovered to the point where she will run a relay and complete a 5K run-walk at the U.S. Transplant Games, held Tuesday through Saturday in Orlando, Fla. The Olympics-style athletic competition, organized by the National Kidney Foundation, features 37 events in more than a dozen sports, including swimming, cycling, basketball, track and field, golf, bowling and tennis.

``I was on oxygen and in a wheelchair,'' said Thomas, who attributes her lung condition to taking the recalled diet drug fen phen. ``Now I'm running. This is the first time ever in my life that I've been part of a team.''

Thomas will run the 4x100 relay with three other women who received lung transplants at USC University Hospital.

``We're not out there to win it, just to prove we can do it,'' said Melissa Reta of Whittier, one of Thomas' teammates.

Reta, 28, underwent a living lobar lung transplant two years ago. She received two lobes, one from her uncle, Rick Pickens, and another from a family friend, Jerry Healey.

Reta, who suffers from cystic fibrosis, had only met Healey, a San Pedro resident, twice before he volunteered to be her donor. His wife worked with her mother.

``He and my uncle both were like, 'It's no big deal,' '' she said. ``To me it was everything.''

- Mariko Thompson

REMEMBER THIS: UCLA psychiatrist Gary Small will discuss how to keep the memory sharp at a free talk sponsored by UCLA Healthcare's 50-Plus Program from 2 to 4 p.m. Tuesday. Small, the author of ``The Memory Bible,'' will speak in Louis Jolyon West Auditorium, 720 Westwood Plaza, on the UCLA campus. For reservations or more information, call [phone].

PILL PANACHE: Nicole Miller, the designer famous for conversation print ties, has put her signature artwork on yet another vehicle: birth control pills. A fashion and pharmaceutical first, the Ortho Personal Pak tablet dispensers are now available in Miller's Red High Heels and Zebra Kiss designs. The compacts are $4.95 plus $1.50 for shipping and can be ordered by calling [phone] or at www.orthotricyclen.com. Order forms also are available at pharmacies and physicians' offices. The limited-edition refillable pill compact will benefit the nonprofit Ovarian Cancer Research Fund.

- Barbara De Witt

ROCKED AROUND THE CLOCK: Instead of blasting you out of bed with a loud buzz, the Shake Awake clock starts vibrating under your pillow. The portable, palm-size vibrating alarm clock was designed for the hearing impaired, but it is also helpful for anybody who doesn't want to disturb others with the noise of a traditional alarm clock. Shake Awake has a snooze alarm and large back-lighted LCD display for nighttime viewing. It's battery operated, priced at $29.95. To order, call [phone] or visit www.shakeawake.com.

- Barbara De Witt

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

Photo:

(1) Vicki Thomas - Lung-transplant patient

David Sprague/Staff Photographer

(2) no caption (Nicole Miller birth control pill dispenser)

(3) no caption (Shake Awake alarm clock)