Tartan army are going for gold at transplant games
KIDNEY patients from Lanarkshire will be hoping a splash of tartan will bring them luck as they prepare for a major sporting event.
Hundreds of transplant patients will compete in more than 20 sports including fishing, track and field, golf and darts when the National Transplant Games get underway in North Lanarkshire on Thursday.
The home team will be wearing kilts created by designer David McGill and made by Glenisla Kilts Ltd in Motherwell, when they attend the opening and closing ceremonies.
The local team of 18, who come from both North and South Lanarkshire, are mostly kidney transplant recipients and will be among 750 athletes taking part in the overall event, which is running for four days.
Spearheaded by North Lanarkshire Council, with support from NHS Lanarkshire, the games aim to raise awareness of organ donation and increase sign-ups to the Organ Donor Register.
Since the games were launched last November, an extra 3,000 people from Lanarkshire have joined the register.
The first ever adult team from Lanarkshire was set up by the local Kidney Patient Association secretary Karen Casey, the flagship project of the charity Transplant Sport.
Karen, who is from Wishaw and received a life-saving kidney transplant in 2014, said: “I hope that each member gains something from the experience of taking part in their first Transplant Games. It’s a unique opportunity to have the event taking place on our doorstep, so it was the ideal time to create the first ever Lanarkshire team.
“Given we will have the home advantage we would love to win medals, but just by being able to take part in the games we have already overcome the biggest hurdle in our lives thanks to our organ donors.”
Across the UK more than 7,000 people are waiting for a life-saving transplant and three die each day waiting.
In North Lanarkshire there are currently a record 124,559 people on the Organ Donor Register with around 30 people receiving an organ transplant every year.
The Scottish Government has announced it plans to switch to an opt-out transplant system, following a major campaign by the Evening Times.
The games are free for people to turn up on the day (ex- cept darts). The opening ceremony will be held on Thursday at the Ravenscraig Sport Facility in Motherwell from 6pm -9pm.
For the full timetable, please visit www.britishtransplantgames.co.uk
See tomorrow’s Evening Times for inspirational athletes’ stories.