HK transplant patients tackle sporting events in world games

Organ transplant recipients, aged 16 to 68, will represent Hong Kong in athletics, swimming and other events at the 16th World Transplant Games starting in Bangkok on Saturday.

A record 21 transplant patients from the city, including heart, lung, bone marrow, liver and kidney recipients, will compete in the Thai capital with more than 1,300 participants from around the world until September 2.

This is the first time that the city is sending such a diverse team of transplant recipients to the competition, held every two years by the World Transplant Games Federation. Events include table tennis, badminton, bowling, golf, archery and petanque. Team manager Chau Ka-foon, of the Society of Transplantation, said 48 countries would take part this year.

'This is the first time the Society of Transplantation is organising such a big event,' she said. 'I hope the patients can gain confidence through participating in the events. It's important for their recovery.'

Lomond Chu Lok-man, 16, is the youngest participant.

He was born with jaundice and had biliary atresia, a condition where the bile duct is blocked or absent, when he was two months old. He received a liver when he was in Primary 5.

'I was vomiting blood all over the tub and I had cirrhosis,' he said. 'If I didn't have the liver transplant back then, I'd probably have had only two to three months left to live.'