2010 US Transplant Games 

              July 30 - August 4, 2010

                   Madison, Wisconsin

 

 

Anyone who has a commitment to the importance of organ and tissue donation.
Transplant recipients who have received a life-saving organ (heart, lung, liver, kidney, pancreas or bone marrow) can participate in one or more sports with other recipients.

Living donors and donor family members of deceased donors are recognized during national ceremonies by the National Kidney Foundation and the Department of Transplantation for the ‘gift of life’ each has given.

Family members, friends and healthcare professionals fill the stands and sidelines with cheers of encouragement and applause of appreciation.

The Games, to be held July 30-August 4 of that year, are an Olympics-style event for athletes who have received life-saving organ transplants. Participants compete in a wide range of athletic endeavors - from basketball to bowling, from golf to swimming - and in doing so, support the Games' threefold mission of demonstrating the success of transplantation, honoring donors who have given the gift of life, and calling attention to the need for more organ donors. In addition, ceremonies and workshops are held to honor donor families and living donors.

Dr. Bryan Becker, a UW Hospital transplant medicine physician who was recently named president of the National Kidney Foundation, called attention to the final leg of the Transplant Games mission during his remarks.

Though the number of transplant surgeries has increased 12.5 percent nationwide since the initial Transplant Games in 1990, Dr. Becker said, recently "the transplant waiting list went over 100,000 for the first time ever."

As senior vice president of programs for the National Kidney Foundation, Gigi Politoski had an influential hand in reviewing the applications of the cities vying for the Games. She said Madison's history of transplant excellence and reputed civic involvement clinched her decision.

"Madison has a wonderful reputation as a transplant center. It's been leading the country in a lot of different areas of transplantation," she said. "But we also want a community that is going to embrace the event. The city has to want it."

Krista Flanagan, who as vice president of sales and marketing for the Greater Madison Convention and Visitors Bureau worked closely with Schwab to support Madison's application, pointed to the city's rabid support of its annual Ironman Triathlon as evidence of potential enthusiasm for the Transplant Games.

"We knew this community really gets involved in athletic events," she said. "If you look at something like the Ironman, the community really gets out and supports that."

Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz agreed, saying events like the Transplant Games "really transform the whole downtown. This is something we really should be proud of."

But Cieslewicz had another reason for embracing the Transplant Games announcement. A member of his staff, Ray Harmon, is a transplant recipient.

"I'm going to tell Ray he has a year and a half to get in shape and represent the mayor's office," Cieslewicz said, and added with a smile, "And he better do well."

More information about the Transplant Games can be found at http://www.kidney.org/news/tgames/index.cfm.