Teen gave me new heart and is with me in every race
Dad’s bid for Transplant Games gold
AN athlete competing in the European Transplant Games says he is aiming for gold to honour the teenage boy who gifted him a new heart.
Alex Bell, 52, owes his life to a 17-yearold donor, who had told his mum he wanted to be an organ donor as he filled out his driving licence application.
Alex said: “Every day when I wake up the first thing I think about is my donor. He is a hero to me.”
Now in Sardinia for the Games, Alex said: “When I’m competing it’s not just me, it’s me and him doing it together, like a team. He is with me in every race.”
Alex has already won badminton bronze and is facing a cycling time trial and 5km powerwalk. He is also a snowboarder, and won gold at the Winter Games.
It is an incredible turnaround for the lawyer, who in 2004 was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy, an enlargement of the heart muscles.
By 2013, Alex’s heart function was around 5% and his name was added to the transplant waiting list.
He said: “I could feel I was dying. I knew my heart was giving up. It was a race against time to find a transplant.”
He feared he would die on the list, with many heart patients waiting three years or more for a donor organ. But after just one month he received a call in the middle of the night at his home in Newcastle telling him to get to the city’s Freeman Hospital. There, he had an eight-hour operation and woke up two days later with a new heart beating in his chest. Alex, who recalls giving wife Eve, 49, the thumbs-up as he came round, said: “The feeling was amazing. I’d been so ill and so tired for so long and suddenly I felt extremely strong.” Alex, who has two sons, Matt, 16, and Charlie, 12, later found out a little about his donor . He said: “The boy told his mum if anything happened he wanted his organs donated. I understand it was a sudden death and his family respected his wishes. I can never thank them enough.” The Mirror has campaigned for an opt-out organ donation system, where consent is presumed, and MPs have backed a Bill to adopt it. Alex said: “Even after the law changes people need to talk to their families and have that conversation about donating.” Lynne Holt, manager of the Transplant Team GB, said: “The bravery and determination of our athletes is continuously amazing to me.”