Martin has achieved so much.. Toby dying has not been a waste

TRANSPLANT SCOT NOW ARCHERY STAR

BY LOUIE SMITH reporters@dailyrecord.co.uk

A MAN who became an archery medalist after a life-saving transplant from a teenager has described his emotional first meeting with the boy’s parents.

Martin Strang, 47, was born with a congenital heart and spinal condition and later suffered kidney failure.

He had been on dialysis for four years when stranger Toby Hart, 16, tragically died after plunging from a cliff during a family holiday.

The teen’s parents honoured his wish to donate his heart, kidneys, liver and pancreas.

Martin, from Falkirk, who received Toby’s kidney and pancreas, has now become close friends with Toby’s parents Sally and Graham after meeting them on the spur of the moment.

Team GB transplant archery champion Martin said: “I was so nervous, I sat in the car for about 15 minutes beforehand, wearing my Team GB kit, thinking, ‘What do I look like? Are they going to like me?

“But Sally, Toby’s mum, put her arms around me and hugged me for about 10 minutes. It was a very emotional meeting.

“Sally says, ‘We’re family now’, which is lovely.”

Knitting shop worker Sally, 53, added: “Ever since Toby donated, I’d been keen to know how the people who received his organs were. What I love about Martin is that he has done so many things since having the donation.

“I always think of it as Toby and Martin doing them together, which is just lovely. It’s not just that Toby is living on through other people, it’s that Martin has made the most of what he has been given.

“Toby dying wasn’t a waste. That’s what’s really important.”

Toby, from Warrington, Cheshire, fell 60ft to his death at Cadgworth Cove in

MARTIN STRANG ON ARCHERY SUCCESS