Eve (11) swins to success at transplant games
Eleven year old Eve Hamill, who is a member of the Dundalk Swim Academy, won gold and silver medals at the UK and Ireland Transplant Games in Glasgow recently.
Eve, who was born with liver disease and received a live-saving liver transplant when she was five years of age, showed a real natural talent as this was the first time she had swam competitively.
The Mullaghbawn school girl learned to swim at the Aura Leisure Centre in Dundalk, starting off in the ‘ducklings’ class, recalls her dad Jim, who works as a radiologist in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda.
Eve, who swam on the Birmingham Hospital team, as that is where she received her transplant, scooped a gold medal in the back strokes and a silver in the front crawl and due to her impressive performance she was asked to swim in the mixed adult and children’s relay races for Birmingham Adults and children.
‘Eve was jaundiced at birth and was transferred to Birmingham where she was diagnosed with liver disease,’ recalls Jim. ‘She was watched for the following years to see how she would do and was fine until she was five and a half, and at that stage she was placed on the transplant list.’
‘She had her transplant in Birmingham Children’s hospital liver unit October 2011,’ he says. ‘She was out of hospital in less than two weeks and has never looked back since and has been very well.’
As a doctor himself, Jim is very aware of the importance of organ donation for transplant which allows both adults and children to lead normal healthy lives.