Transplanting life

HEALTH meets the men as women from all across the globe, who gathered in the French Alps for the 7th Winter World Transplant Games. Almost 100 participants, all determined to get the most out of every day and prove that giving an organ -is giving the gift of life.

HEALTH

By Eve IRVINE

The World Transplant Games began back in 1978 and the winter edition is now held every two years. Bringing together people who have received an organ transplant; the aim of the Games is to highlight the life that donating an organ brings.

Thirty-year-old Owen Applequist travelled from the United States to take part. A mountain climber and ski instructor it was the first time that he had ever taken part in a ski competition. He was attracted to the event mostly for the opportunity it gave to publicize the need for organ donors.

A variety of different initiatives have been tried by countries to try and encourage people to sign up to become potential organ donors. The latest one in Israel is a suggestion that those who carry a donor card would be given preferential treatment if ever they needed an organ donation during their own lifetime. This idea was met with mixed reactions at the Transplant Games, as participants felt that only medical conditions should determine who gets to go first.

Owen had a kidney transplant when he was 16. His Dad was a match and so gave him the organ he needed. But finding a match so close to home isn’t always easy. Last year over in the United States one man decided to give his kidney to anyone who needed it. It set off a positive chain reaction with a number of people offering their kidneys to strangers who proved to be a positive match, in exchange for an organ for a loved one. This is a practice that has begun to gain ground both in the US and the UK and is currently being considered as a way forward in France.

Ever since Owen got his transplant, he has had to take a twice-daily cocktail of immunosuppressive drugs and blood pressure medication.

“It’s become such a habit that it’s just like taking vitamins,” he says positively before heading out so do a few warm up slopes ahead of the slalom competition.

Practicing sport helps any body stay fit and healthy. For those with transplants it can be an additional help in getting the body back in form after periods of ill health and the social side can also be a support. And given that people with transplants have to take long- term medication the need to keep fit is perhaps even greater.

Most medications come with warning for possible negative side effects but across in Australia doctors have recently discovered a potentially positive secondary effect of tablets taken for diabetes and arthritis.

Mairead Dundas

Presenter

13/05/2012 - HEALTH

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