Transplant Games Coming to Louisville
Frank is standing on the starting block, he'll be swimming the 25-meter butterfly. The Smith family is up in the bleachers screaming out his name. Frank is not related to the Smiths, although he carries an important part of one of them inside his body. Frank is an organ recipient. He has the kidney of Sarah Smith, killed four years ago in an automobile accident. Today her family will cheer on Frank as he races with Sarah's kidney. The organ they chose to donate. The piece of life that has brought Frank to this starting block.
Touching stories like this one fill the transplant games every two years. The biennial Olympic-style games are coming to Louisville in June and you are invited to enjoy. In addition to the rehabilitative benefits of this athletic competition, the U.S. Transplant Games provide a unique opportunity for transplant recipients to gather and share experiences, kindle friendships and celebrate their “ultimate second chance” at life while paying tribute to those who make it all possible — the donor families.
Twenty years ago, the idea of kidney or heart transplant recipients running a 50-meter-dash or swimming the butterfly across a 25-meter pool was unthinkable. Even today, it's pretty incredible even for those us who haven't had transplants.
All this got started back in 1982, a group of brave and determined transplant athlete pioneers gathered in Texas for the first regional U.S. transplant games and began changing the way people thought about Transplant patients. Those games only lasted for a couple of days but slowly the event started to grow. In 1990, the national kidney foundation took on the management and organization of the U.S. transplant games, those games were held a little closer to Louisville that year, the first-ever national-event in Indianapolis drew a record 400 transplant athletes from all over the country. The national kidney foundation continues to organize this biennial Olympic-style event, which now includes 12 different sports and have been held in Los Angeles , Atlanta , Salt Lake City Columbus Orlando and Minneapolis . Each year the games are held the numbers grow. When the games open in Louisville in June 7,000 are expected, 2,000 of them transplant athletes.
On June 16 to 21, transplants athletes who have received kidney, liver, heart, lung, pancreas or bone marrow will compete for gold, silver and bronze medals in 12 different sports including track and field, swimming, tennis, basketball, and more.
If you would rather do more than just observe you are needed to help out! Volunteers are always needed.
Contact the Louisville Sports Commission at (866) 587-7767 or tkillian@gotolouisville.com to learn about volunteer opportunities
For more information on the Games call the National Kidney Foundation at (800) 622-9010 or visit www.transplantgames.org.
Kirby Adams is the consumer reporter for Kentuckiana's News Channel WHAS-11, Team Captain for Team Crusade and a sports and fitness buff. You can e-mail Kirby at kirby.adams@whas11.com. Kirby is also a member of Kentuckiana HealthFitness' Editorial Advisory Board.
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Kirby Adams
WHAS-TV
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