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Living donors (of any organ or tissue) are invited to the Games to celebrate life! Living donors can cheer on the transplant athletes, meet other living donors, find support and answers to your questions about donation and transplantation, and be recognized for your gifts of life.
NEW FOR 2010! For the first time, living donors participating in the 2010 NKF U.S. Transplant Games® are eligible to compete in certain sport events.
Each participant in the Games is part of an official NKF U.S. Transplant Games® Team representing his or her state or region, which is organized by a local Team Manager. Games team members are categorized as Primary or Support Members. Living donors are primary team members.
In addition to events and activities admission, all primary team members are invited to march in the Opening Ceremony procession with their local team. Prior to the Games, primary team members may also fund raise to help offset costs associated with their trip. For more information, please contact your local Team Manager.
“This experience, by far, was the most humbling and rewarding experience of my life. I donated my kidney to my father in 2006 and seeing him compete two years later was incredible. It was incredible seeing everyong runnin and walking for such a good cause. The camaraderie of all the athletes, families and supporters was unbelievable. One of the most life changing experiences of my life. I will never miss a Transplant Games as long as I can.”
– Marie Antonette Eraso, TEAM NORTH TEXAS, Living Donor
Living Donors will march into the Opening Ceremony as a group after the Transplant Recipient Athletes enter by team.
Workshops and sharing groups will be held on topics of interest to living donors. For a schedule with workshop descriptions, click here.
Join us at the Living Donor Recognition Event to recognize the generosity and spirit of our nation’s living donors. This uplifting program will include readings, music and special tributes to those who gave the gift of life. All Games participants are invited to this unique program.
Living donors (or their families or friends) can also share a photo for the Living Donor Recognition Event. The photo can be of the living donor OR donor & recipient. We can only accept one photo per donor. All photos must be received by June 1, 2010.
The 2010 U.S. Transplant Games Program Journal will include written tributes to living donors who are attending the Games. Please note that we can only accept one tribute per donor. The donor’s recipient, family or friends may write the tribute together. (Or the living donor can write a few words about their experience). All tributes must be received by June 1, 2010.
How to send a Tribute:The Coffeehouse is an open-mic forum for living donors, donor families, recipients and professionals to share a few words about their experiences. Participants can relax over dessert and coffee and share personal thoughts, stories, poems, songs or other creative expressions. Participants are encouraged to “come and go” as needed.
Walk, jog or run! Join us at your own pace, in the name of organ & tissue donation at the 5K Race for Organ, Eye & Tissue Donation Awareness, a road race for transplant recipients, family members, friends, transplant professionals, living donors, donor families and the local community. There is a separate registration and fee for Games’ non-athletes and the public who wish to participate in this event.
FORE! Open to all Games registrants, the Donor-Recipient Golf Outing is a friendly game of golf that involves all members from the transplant community. Prizes will be awarded for Best Ball, Longest Drive and more! Lunch included. There is a separate registration and fee for Games’ registrants who wish to participate in this event.
The National Kidney Foundation U.S. Transplant Games® (the “Games”) is a multi–sport age group athletic competition open to all recipients and living donors of life–supporting allografts (heart, intestine, kidney, liver, lung, pancreas) and hemopoetic cell (bone marrow) transplants from other individuals or species which require or have required the use of immunosuppressive drug therapies. Living donors of the aforementioned organs are eligible to compete in selected events in their own division. Recipients must have been transplanted for at least nine months, with stable graft function, be medically fit and have trained at the events in which they have entered. Living donors must be nine months post–donation. Recipients less than nine months post–transplant and living donors less than nine months post–donation will be considered on a case–by–case basis. All competitors must be medically approved by their physician to compete.
Living donors will be able to compete (against other living donors) in the following Track & Field events only: 100 meter dash, ball throw and long jump.
Before competing, each living donor athlete must complete a general waiver with his or her registration, stating that the athlete is fit, has trained for the events entered, has knowledge of the rules, the difficulties of the event and the medical requirements of the Games. In addition, a medical certificate must be submitted at least one month but no more than four months before the start of the Games. The medical waiver must be filled out entirely and signed by the athlete’s primary physician. All medical waivers must be reviewed by the Team Manager prior to submission. Medical waivers will be reviewed and, if deemed unsatisfactory, that competitor may be restricted from competition.