Inspirational athlete Helen Wilson has been selected to represent Team GB for the World Transplant Games in 2025 which are being held in Dresden, Germany.
Helen is a transplant athlete who has competed in eight British, one European and two World Transplant Games since 2015 in archery, discus, shot put and javelin, having never previously taken part in these events before.
Speaking on her selection for next year’s games, Helen said that she was honoured and proud to have the opportunity to take part in her third World Transplant Games next year.
The training starts now and will build over the coming months and will involve sessions on the track as well as in the gym plus work on her throwing technique so that she can be as prepared as possible to hopefully bring home some medals again next year. This will also give her the opportunity to continue to raise awareness for organ donation and the Transplant Games.
Organ Donation Week was celebrated in the week of September 23-29 and NHS Blood and Transplant are celebrating the fact that the NHS Organ Donor Register has been saving lives for 30 years through the gift of organ donation.
Since its creation in 1994, thousands of lives have been saved thanks to people agreeing to donate their organs after death, many of them confirming their decision on the NHS Organ Donor Register.
With the law changing around organ donation, it is important to remember that the soft opt out system means it is assumed that when someone dies in the circumstances where they could be a donor that they agree to donate if they haven’t officially opted out.
However, no one is automatically added to the Organ Donor Register. You still need to confirm your decision and your family will be consulted before donation goes ahead.
More than 11,000 people are currently in need of a life-saving transplant across the UK, 7,600 of those are actively waiting including 19 in the Wokingham area, so it’s vital that people confirm their organ donation decision to save lives.
More than 30 million people in the UK have already declared their decision through the NHS Organ Donor Register, including 141,505 in the Wokingham area, which is the best way for their family to know what they want. Nine out of ten families will support organ donation if their loves one have confirmed their decision on the NHS Organ Donor Register.
Helen Wilson, Wokingham resident and double transplant recipient, said that confirming your decision to donate on the NHS Organ Donor Register makes it clear to your family that you want to be an organ donor, leaving them certain of your decision at what is a difficult and emotional time. We need more people to confirm their decision on the register today in order to save more lives now and in the future.
Helen received a kidney from her brother Steve in 2007 having been diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease and a liver from a donor family in 2013 having subsequently also been diagnosed with polycystic liver disease.
Helen is now taking opportunities to live life to the full and is also campaigning to raise awareness of the importance of organ donation and also of the Transplant Games.
These are organised by Transplant Sport whose aim is to raise awareness of the need for organ donation, to encourage transplant recipients to lead active lifestyles and show appreciation for and remember their donors and their families.
