Count down for Basingstoke local in preparation for his first World Transplant Games!
30th May2011

With only three weeks left until Joe Dunster flies out to represent GB at the World Transplant Games, Goteborg , Sweden , his preparations are almost complete. Following his golf gold medal at the British Transplant Games in Bath last year, Portsmouth born Joe, who works for The AA in Basingstoke, will be attending his first World Games, where he'll be hoping to land a medal in either the men's squash, golf or table tennis.

Throughout his childhood, Joe suffered with kidney problems and was treated at Great Ormond Street Hospital . At 16/17 years old, his conditioned worsened and through poor health, he had to give up all sporting activity. He was diagnosed with kidney failure two years later in 1998. Joe then spent two years on the organ waiting list and in August 2000 he was lucky enough to receive a life-changing kidney transplant.

The road to recovery certainly wasn't easy, four years of dialysis, operations, check-ups and tears certainly took its toll on his body. However, 11 years later, he is fighting fit and enjoying competitive sport again. It's fair to say the transplant changed his life and opened up a number of opportunities, one of which has been the chance to compete in the World Transplant Games . Without the gift of an organ donation, these opportunities would never have been possible.

Last year, Joe finally decided to put my sporting talents to good use and registered to play golf at his first British Transplant Games. Joe was lucky enough to win gold in the men's Stapleford competition and was selected to represent the GB Transplant Team at the World Transplant Games 2011 in Sweden , Goteborg ! He's a member of Sherfield Oaks Golf course in Basingstoke and will be playing off 15, when he tackles Sweden 's tough Hills Golf course designed by Arthur Hills and Steve Forrest. The games start on 17 June, so he's been trying to cram in as much practice as he can. More importantly, he has been using the last six months to raise money for Transplant Sport UK and awareness of how he's benefited from receiving an organ transplant.

  Now for the important stuff...

The need for organs is constant. Currently in the UK :

•  More than 10,000 people need an organ transplant

•  Of these, 1,000 people will die before an organ becomes available, that's three a day

•  While 90% of people in the UK say they support organ donation, to date, only 27% have joined the NHS Organ Donation Register

Please show your support for this valuable cause, add your name to the

NHS Organ Donor Register and let those closest to you know your wishes about organ donation. One day you may be able to save lives and give someone else the fantastic opportunities Joe has experienced.

To sponsor Joe Dunster at the World Transplant Games please visit justgiving.com/joedunster

For further information feel free to call Joe Dunster on 07793926413

Organ Donation

Organ Donation Trust's key role is to ensure that organs donated for transplant are matched and allocated to patients in a fair and unbiased way. Matching, particularly in the case of kidneys, is so important that donation and allocation needs to be organised nationally. The larger the pool of organs, the better the likelihood there is of a good match.

Statistics - Transplants save lives

In the UK between 1 April 2009 and 31 March 2010:

•  3,709 organ transplants were carried out, thanks to the generosity of 2,021 donors.

•  978 lives were saved in the UK through a heart, lung, liver or combined heart/lungs, liver/kidney, liver/pancreas or heart/kidney transplant.

•  2,739 patients' lives were dramatically improved by a kidney or pancreas transplant, 160 of whom received a combined kidney/pancreas transplant.

•  A further 3,099 people had their sight restored through a cornea transplant.

•  A record number of 552 non-heart beating donor kidney transplants took place and accounted for one in five of all kidney transplants.

•  Living donor kidney transplants are increasing - 475 in 2004-05, 589 in 2005-06, 690 in 2006-07, 831 in 2007-08, 927 in 2008-09 and 1,038 in 2009-10 - and now represent more than one in three of all kidney transplants.

•  Almost a million more people pledged to help others after their death by registering their wishes on the NHS Organ Donor Register, bringing the total to 17,400,213(September 2010).

All statistics we produce and publish undergo a vigorous validation process to ensure, as far as possible, that information is factually accurate.

For more information:

organdonation.nhs.uk

World Transplant Federation

Our purpose is to visibly demonstrate the benefits of successful organ transplantation, work to increase public awareness of its success and thereby increase organ donation rates, as well as promote the full rehabilitation and wellbeing of our participants.

Have we been successful? YES! We have achieved a 30% or better increase in organ donation rates in those countries which have hosted the Games. And YES, we have helped in the full rehabilitation of people after a successful organ transplant.

Much remains to be done though - we need to do more to bridge the gap between the need for an organ transplant and the hundreds of thousands of people who die each year because one is not available. This objective can only be achieved by our continuing efforts to promote the benefits of transplantation by staging our summer and winter Games and using every opportunity to sensitize the public to the need for more organ donors.

For more information:

wtgf.org

Transplant Sport UK

We are a registered Charity whose main aim is to raise awareness of the need for organ donation in the UK and worldwide. Through organising sports and social events for transplant recipients we can show the benefits of organ donation and prove that you can lead a normal and active life again after transplantation.

Founded as a result of the first 'Transplant Olympics' held in Portsmouth in 1978, we have a varied membership throughout the UK - aged from 4 to 80 - all having received the life-saving gift of a major organ. We welcome the families, donors and donor families to join our Association also and to support our transplant athletes at the various sporting events which we organise throughout the year.

We are dependant upon sponsorship and donation to fund the administration and running of the Association. Our appointed Trustees and Management Committee are all volunteers who give of their time, experience and energy to allow us to stage the events that we organise.

For more information:

transplantsport.org.uk