Irish organ recipients are hoping for medals at the World Transplant Games, reports Elaine Edwards.
Some 27 Irish transplant recipients will fly to Canada this week to take part in the 15th World Transplant Games, a biennial competition that also serves to boost awareness of organ donation.
Around 68 countries will participate at the event in London, Ontario, between July 16th and 24th in sports including volleyball, swimming, badminton, table tennis, cycling, golf, bowling and rowing.
The games, which are endorsed by the International Olympic Committee, were first held in Portsmouth in 1978, when around 100 people competed. Some 1,500 transplant recipients took part in the most recent games, at Nancy in France in 2003. At that event, the 20-strong Irish team secured 22 medals - six gold, 10 silver and six bronze.
The World Transplant Winter Games are staged on alternate years and, most recently, were staged in Bormio, Italy, in January 2004.
Competitors, all of whom are alive because of successful organ transplants, must be medically fit with no significant complications from chronic organ failure or immunosuppressive therapy.
They have ranged in age from four to 80 and must have had their transplants at least a year before the games.
Among the Irish contingent, there are liver, heart and pancreas recipients, but the majority of the competitors are kidney recipients.
The organisers say the competitors demonstrate the level of health and vitality that can be achieved after transplantation.
Colin White, manager of the Irish team, co-ordinated the national paralympic games in Zimbabwe in 2000.
"I became involved with the Irish Kidney Association, which is responsible for organising the Irish games, back in March, before the national trials. My wife is a dialysis patient and a member of the association," he says.
Members of the Irish team heading for Canada on Thursday range in age from 16 to 69. "I would say most of them probably come into late 30s to late 40s, a traditional age for transplants.
"That's where the competition will be toughest - in that age category," White says.
"We've got quite a team in badminton and we have a pedigree in golf. We've Gary Campbell, who won gold and silver in the golf in the last games. We have quite a number involved in lawn bowls, which is a new sport for us in Ireland and I think it's relatively new to the world games as well.
"We've one squash player, two swimmers and a mix of people in track and field - shot-put being a popular one. We've also some competitors in the 100m relay, which is always an entertaining one.
"Going on past pedigree, I would say our medal hopes are in golf and on the track, but this time round we have quite a few new team members who haven't competed at this level, so it's hard to know how they will perform.
"Now that we've been participating for a number of years, the word has spread around the transplant community about the games and they're actually tremendous fun. But they are run as a very serious event and there are records kept," White adds.
"We also have national games each year and this year they will take place in September. We had our trials for the world games at the University of Limerick - the facilities there are excellent.
"In terms of training, we've had a number of team days - we usually use the ALSAA complex beside Dublin airport.
"Primarily, the athletes coach themselves or are members of clubs around the country, because they are very spread out - we literally have people from Donegal down to Kerry."
Each team member has received medical clearance and the games committee requires that the transplant must have taken place a minimum of a year before the event.
A team doctor will travel with the 27 Irish competitors who will, between them, be carrying "quite a pharmacy" of anti-rejection drugs, according to White.
He says the training regimes the athletes undergo are at quite a high level and many of the athletes are also very active members of local sports clubs.
While the event is competitive, with something of a social element for the transplant community, it serves another very serious purpose in raising awareness of organ donation.
"At the end of the day, this is a huge awareness operation of the true value of organ donation, that someone who has been permanently unwell can, following a transplant, turn around and compete at a very high level in their chosen sport," White says.
The Irish team is encouraging people to consider carrying organ donor cards. Cards can be obtained from many pharmacies, doctors' surgeries and from the Irish Kidney Association.
For further information on the World Transplant Games 2005, visit www.2005wtg.london.ca
Visit the Irish Kidney Association website www.ika.ie or tel: 1890 456 556.