Thornlands local Daniel Hoepner is gearing up to celebrate the greatest gift of all by taking part in next month’s Australian Transplant Games.
Daniel, 20, received a live-saving kidney transplant in 2001 at Brisbane’s Princess Alexandra Hospital and now is ready to compete in Australia’s most inspirational sporting event.
Transplant Australia will stage the games from September 24 to October 1 in western Sydney to promote the benefits of donation and transplantation, and help transplant recipients improve health and fitness.
Western Sydney was been chosen as the location to promote organ donation in multicultural communities.
Daniel will be presented with a personalised shirt at the start of the games. He is competing in swimming, volleyball and badminton.
The games unite those touched by transplantation and organ donation through a week of sport and social activities.
Transplant Australia chief executive Chris Thomas said the games was a way of saying “thanks’’ to donor families and for donor families, it was a way to honour their loved one’s gift of life.
“Our athletes demonstrate living proof that transplantation saves lives,’’ he said.
“What’s more, it allows them a quality of life they might not have experienced for years. They can start a family, play sport, get back into the workforce – all because of the generosity of someone else.’’
The message from the games was to register as an organ and tissue donor.
“For every Australian willing to one day save lives, joining the register is the clearest message a person can give their family that, in the event of their death, they have made a decision to leave a legacy of donation to save the lives of other Australians,” Mr Thomas said.
Join the Australian Organ Donor Register online by visiting donatelife.gov.au
