This summer almost 3000 athletes and supporters will descend upon Sheffield for the 31st British Transplant Games. The games originally held in Portsmouth in 1978 have been held across the UK ever since and show to the nation how organ donation can truly transform lives for the better…

Essentially the games are the same as any other national sports competition. There are a whole host of skilled events for athletes of every age. These include Track and Field, Swimming, Racket Sports and even Golf. When it comes down to it the competition is equally as fierce and standard equally as high as any other large scale sporting event, but with one single difference. All competitors have received a successful organ transplant.

The games came about as a positive way to highlight how transplantation can transform once terminally ill and hospital confined patients to fit, active and healthy athletes, encouraging them to reach their full fitness potential. It’s not that transplant patients need separate games to compete in at a high level because they maybe unable to match the fitness levels of regular competitors. This isn’t so. In fact many participating athletes compete in numerous other competitions at city and county level back home. An organ transplant also doesn’t mean a person has to train differently. During preparation for the World Transplant Games 2007 some young athletes trained seven days a week before and after school to reach their optimum performance levels.

These in turn can carry their own mini side-affects or inconveniences but overall I see these as a small price to pay for what I have gained. In the past I have asked myself whether receiving this second chance at life, the way I did, was right or fair, when not everyone can have this.
Amongst the numerous positives that come out of the games Renal (Kidney) Specialist Dr Gail Moss highlighted the impact the games has on the competitors themselves. She told me “A key part of the games today is how it allows people who have had transplants to meet, compete together, form friendships and share their experiences”. As a competitor myself, this is particularly important for me, as misconceptions and ignorance around the issue of transplants is still common, especially amongst people my age. It can often be refreshing to speak with those who have a better idea of what you have been through and why.



It’s possible to receive several types of transplant for any number of reasons. (Heart, Lung, Liver, Kidney, Cornea, Pancreas and Bone Marrow). And although it is complex and often dangerous surgery involving many risks, transplantation has been in use successfully since it was first pioneered in the 1950s. Effectively the procedure allows people another chance in life for freedom and health, which previously would not have been possible.
For more information about the Transplant Games visit,
www.transplantsport.org.uk

My Story
As a baby I was diagnosed with a rare kidney disorder and for virtually the first three years of my life I was confined to hospital or home, constantly attached to all manner of medical machines and life-support systems, unable to start out life like others my own age. This all changed in May 1995 when I had a Kidney transplant, aged three.

Immediately I was able to do ordinary things never possible before and I’ve barely looked back since. I don’t by any means define myself purely as someone who’s had a transplant, in fact I see it as a very small part of my life. But I recognise if I hadn’t have had one, I certainly wouldn’t be here today.

Nowadays I live like any other person my age, going out with friends, listening to music, playing sport and sometimes spending ridiculous amounts of money on clothes and nights out. However I do still have to religiously take medication and even avoid certain foods.

I would be ignorant if I didn’t. But many doctors will talk of the way that friends and family of the deceased often take comfort in the fact that their loved one has helped another live on in their absence. This in turn has helped me face the sad reality of the donation process. It has also helped me gained an extra appreciation for life itself. By recognising its fragility through first hand experience I see the need to make the most of my life
while I can.

Donating
Since the launch of the donation register in 1994, which allows people to officially register their wishes in the event of death, 28,000 people have benefited from an organ transplant in the UK. Over 14.9 million people have signed the register but many more are needed.

7000 people nationally are waiting for an organ at any given time and can often die before one becomes available. Such is the need the Sheffield Star recently launched a campaign asking 25, 000 people to sign up to the donation register to combat the shortage of organs needed in the area.

The issue of donation was recently thrust firmly into the spotlight when Gordon Brown called for a donation system of “presumed consent” which would replace the current “opt in” scheme. This new system would mean that rather than people having to sign up to the register, that they would automatically be added, and taken off only if they expressed that wish. This new approach to the scheme, which is already successfully in use in Spain, has been shown to increase the number of people saved each year by thousands.

The issue of changing how donors are acquired has consequently sparked a nationwide debate on the ethics and the effect of giving and receiving a transplant. Currently around 90% of the UK population have been found to agree with the process of organ donation but only 24% get round to signing up. Perhaps the best approach would be to make the process of signing and the Knowledge around donation more accessible.

At the moment it’s a personal choice whether you sign up to be considered for organ use in the event of death. If you would like to, the process is simple and quick. As a young man with my life before me, healthy thanks to a transplant, I can only say what campaigns across the country have said in the past, that is…

You don’t have to be a hero to save lives.

Peter Murray

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