What a superb performance by Transplant Sport Ireland at the British Transplant Games held in Coventry recently.
Winning 15 Gold, 10 Silver and 6 Bronze medals, it makes it the most successful Transplant team ever to compete in these championships.
The 4 day sports competition was amongst over 1200 athletes all Heart, Lung, Liver, Kidney, Pancreas & Bone Marrow transplant recipients and kidney dialysis patients from all over the UK, Northern Ireland, Germany, the Netherlands and even Australia!
Laura McDowell from Dalkey was part of Transplant Sport Ireland’s junior athletes taking part.
She won Gold in the 2.5k Road race, Gold in the Long Jump and Silver in Table Tennis!
Her colleague Tara Madigan from Limerick also won Gold in the Road race, Gold in Long Jump and Silver in the 200 metres.
Tadhg McElroy from Bray won Gold in the Table tennis.
Laura (pictured above) was born with Biliary Atresia and subsequently received part of her aunt’s liver (Aoife O Gorman) in 2010 when she was 19 months and very sick.
Since then she has dealt with the challenges of illness, isolation and having a rare, unknown disease as she grows up.
Laura took part in the 2.5km run, Long Jump, 200m run and Table Tennis and has participated in several British Transplant Games: in Birmingham 2018, Newport, Wales in 2019 (winning 3 Gold) and Leeds 2022 (winning 3 Gold, and 1 Bronze).
The transplant games and Irish Team give Laura and her family a chance to meet other people who have transplants.
Knowing the transplant community massively helps with navigating school and other parts of life where being a transplanted teenager can be challenging, so the Games give Laura the support and experiences she needs to grow up with a liver transplant. .
There were competitions for living donors as well as junior athletes.
Transplant Sport Ireland had 26 transplanted adults, 5 transplanted underage athletes, and 3 living donors competing from Cavan, Cork, Dublin, Galway, Kerry, Limerick, Louth, Mayo, Tipperary, Westmeath, Wexford and Wicklow.
Whilst there were many highlights of the 4 day event in Coventry, it must be said that the celebration of the success of Organ Donation was the most obvious as 31 transplanted Irish athletes would not be there without their donor and the donor’s family’s great gift of life.
It was also the first time that the Adults team and the Children’s team combined making it a strong 34 athlete team.
It is the first time that the Adults and Children’s Teams have combined for these Games so it’s a historic occasion.
Transplant Sport actively promotes the importance of more people telling their family and friends they wish to donate, so that families do not refuse to give consent because of a lack of knowledge.
It demonstrates powerfully that organ donation works and each athlete is deeply grateful for the gift of life – none more so than the athletes in Team Ireland.
Transplant Sport Ireland had huge success at the Games winning 15 Gold medals, 10 Silver medals and 6 Bronze medals but it’s not about the medals.
Team Ireland has one shared purpose – to showcase the success of organ donation and transplantation whilst offering inspiration to those who are newly transplanted or newly diagnosed with organ failure.
The Team have one simple request to everyone – to please consider carrying an Organ Donor Card and Have the conversation – Say YES to Organ Donation.