Most athletes on the global stage are there because of extreme skill and talent. But at the World Transplant Games, being an organ recipient is what qualifies you to compete.
Channel 2’s Wendy Corona met two local kidney recipients who are training to compete in the games in Germany next month and surprising themselves in the process.
Their stories were told on Channel 2 Action News at 4.
For Prashant Desai and Lewis Hagedorn, basketball is their sport. But kidney disease nearly derailed them both.
“I felt fine. I felt healthy. I didn’t think there were any issues,” Desai said.
A physical revealed a problem. “They told me I had kidney failure,” he said.
“I was in kidney failure, Stage 4, and I felt great, a total surprise,” Hagedorn said.
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But then, after years of waiting and even some denial, both men got the gift of life in 2021, within a month of each other.
“I’m so grateful that I had a transplant, and I don’t want to waste it,” Hagedorn said.
They’re not.
Last year Desai and Hagedorn joined Team Georgia, competing at the U.S. Transplant Games in Birmingham, Alabama.
This year, they’re going bigger, the World Transplant Games in Germany next month.
They’ll compete in sports like tennis, golf, volleyball, badminton, shot put and even javelin, despite never having thrown one.
“I’m either going to be really bad or surprise myself, but either way, I’m winning,” Hagedorn said.
They’re winning because they got the organs they needed, thanks to donors neither have met and also because the games opened them up to a new community.
“Oh, it was awesome! I was with my people. Everybody there had had a transplant of some sort,” Hagedorn said. “We all take anti-rejection drugs. It was just like, we could talk about that.”
They’re athletes back in the game, living life at an elite level.
“I just thought I’d get a new kidney and go on in my life, but just to meet a new community and make it an athletic part of that too, I think that’s just the cool part,” Desai said.
According to Lifelink Foundation, 36% of Georgians are registered organ donors.
Data shows 100,000 Americans are waiting on an organ, 3,000 of them in Georgia.
Registering as an organ donor or being a living donor can help save a life. You can sign up here.
Channel 2 Action News will let you know how they do in the games.
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