ASTWOOD Bank athlete Declan Logue has been selected to represent Great Britain at the World Transplant Games in Malaga, Spain.
Declan, who had a kidney transplant 18 years ago at the QE in Birmingham, will compete as a cyclist.
He said: “Receiving a kidney transplant was like winning the lottery, it meant I was able to resume living life just like everyone else.
“This year has been quite traumatic, being recently made redundant, but that has not stopped me training and aiming to exceed my best at the World Transplant Games. “We’re the third largest international TeamGB (after the Olympics and Paralympics), but unlike them we have to raise funds to cover all our costs – no lottery funding for us!”
The World Transplant Games, take place every two years, and are supported by the International Olympic Committee.
It represents the largest organ donor awareness event in the world, featuring a week of 17 sporting events. Team Great Britain will join 1000 other transplant athletes from 60 countries across the globe.
TeamGB, which will be their largest ever, comprises of 200 transplant athletes, including 20 juniors, 10 live donors, and more than 200 supporters, athletes who have all survived either a heart, lung, kidney, pancreas, liver, small bowel or bone marrow transplant.
Team manager Lynne Holt said: “We aim to exceed the 127 Gold medals won at the World Transplant Games in 2015, and to bring home the trophy for the best team.
“These athletes certainly deserve the same recognition as the recent Olympic and Para Olympic Games.
“In spite of the constant training, fitting in work, school, exams, publicity and hospital clinic appointments, these athletes receive no government support, and have to raise the £1,500 plus themselves.”
The World Transplant Games are in Malaga from on Sunday, June 25 to Sunday, July 2.
To register on the NHS Organ Donor Register, call 0300 123 23 23, or go to www.organdonation.nhs.uk to register online.
