Irish organ recipients and living donors win 22 medals at British Transplant Games
The Transplant Sport Ireland team who won 22 medals at the British Transplant Games in Sheffield at the weekend. File picture
The “inspirational” Transplant Sport Ireland team at the British Transplant Games took home 22 medals, including 11 golds, at this tournament which celebrates organ donation.
The Irish team’s final haul also included six silver medals and five bronze among the 19-member team, with athletes from Cork and Kerry among them.
Val Weblin from Drimoleague in West Cork won three medals, including silver at the snooker, gold in the bowling, and bronze in the darts events.
He lives with cystic fibrosis and has received a lung and kidney from donors.
Movingly, he was cheered on in Sheffield by his living donor Rosaline.
He was also part of the football team which reached the semi-finals.
This team included another organ recipient, Patrick O’Driscoll from Ahiohill, Co Cork, who also won silver in the long jump.
Longtime Kerry resident Anna Pokojska took home three medals to the Kingdom.
She won two bronze medals in the 10k and 5k cycling events. She also claimed silver in the 3km walk.
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The Transplant Sport Ireland men’s football team made it to the semi-finals, only conceding one goal in the group stages.
On the track, Mike Keohane from Rosscarbery took home an 11th consecutive gold in the 5k racewalk.
He also claimed silver in the discus event and gold in the shotput.
Among the three under-18s competing, Donnacha Horan from Roscommon, won gold in the 2.5k road race.
Saturday’s events wrapped up with a Donor Run, described by a Transplant Sport Ireland spokeswoman as “very poignant”, with over 3,500 runners or walkers paying tribute to their donors and donor families.
Mr Weblin is very aware of how challenging it can be for families to decide on organ donation following a sudden tragedy or illness.
“I could only tell people my story and hope they would get some comfort from it,” he said.
“I hope they would understand how much organ donation could mean to a person and how it could change somebody’s life immeasurably for the better.”
He said: “It is an incredible gift to be given, and one that is never underestimated and forgotten. It truly is the gift of life.”
The games also has events which allow living donors to compete. These are people who donated an organ or part of an organ, including kidney donors.
Wicklow-based GP Deirdre O’Gorman took part in the tournament, including the swimming races, having donated part of her liver to her nieceLaura McDowell some years ago.
Her niece is now 17 and also competed; she won gold in the tennis events.
Ms McDowell also took gold in the long jump at the weekend and competed in the mixed relay on the running track.
The tennis events saw a number of other Irish competitors, with Glenn Clinton from Dublin taking bronze after a six-hour battle.
Also among the successful Irish athletes was Mayo woman Karol Donnelly who won a silver medal in archery during her first outing on the national team.
A spokeswoman for Transplant Sport Ireland (TSI) said: “What a weekend in Sheffield for TSI athletes.
“With 19 athletes in competition, three of whom are on the U18 team, there has been tremendous success.”
These games and other transplant games are unusual, she said, as the medals are secondary to the promotion of life after organ donation.
“We congratulate each and every athlete who came to Sheffield to honour their donor and represent Ireland.
“You are truly heroic and inspirational,” she said.
- More details, including how to participate in transplant games, are available here, on TransplantSportIreland.ie.
- Niamh Griffin, Health Correspondent
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