Shrewsbury cancer survivor Andy, 61, to represent county in World Transplant Games
Just being on the start line will be an achievement for Andy Lewis, from Shrewsbury. The 61-year-old is living proof of the wonders of modern medicine.
And now he is heading out to Spain to represent Great Britain in the World Transplant Games.
Andy is busy with his training programme in the run-up to the event, which is being staged in Malaga and see 2,000 athletes from around the globe compete.
Celebrating the Gift of Life, the games are open to all who have undergone lifesaving transplant operations. They can be organ, bone or stem cell donations.
The 200-strong Great Britain Team will include Andy, a member of Shrewsbury Athletic Club, who returned from last year's European Transplant Games with four gold medals.
It is a dramatic upturn in fortunes for a man who had been stricken with blood cancer a little more than five years ago.
A course of chemotherapy in 2009 at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital put the blood cancer into remission, but in July 2010 Andy relapsed and had a stem cell transplant at Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
He said: ''Never in my wildest dreams would I have believed that I'd represent my country on the athletics track. After my transplant I just wanted to be able to take part in a sport that I'd been doing since I was a child, but having been so seriously ill with leukaemia I wondered if that would ever be possible. And now, at 61 years of age this is happening, I can hardly believe it.
''The games organisers want to showcase the benefits of organ and bone marrow/stem cell donation. They are also a way that I can celebrate the new life I've been given and, with all my fellow competitors, thank the donors and their families.''
There is no government or Lottery funding for transplant athletes, so all participants are self-funded.
"Shrewsbury Athletic Club have very generously provided funding towards these costs," said Andy. "I'm extremely grateful for their support.
''When it came to finding a donor I was very fortunate – my brother was a match, but many others are not so fortunate and have to wait and maybe never find a match.
"There are currently over 60 of people in the county waiting for a suitable organ donor. In Shropshire there are nearly 183,000 amazing people on the donor register and I hope that more people will join. I also hope that my story will help others believe that it is possible to get back to something like the life they had before having a serious illness."
The games start on June 26 and last for six days.
Andy is cautious on his prospects of returning home with a medal. He said: "I'm doing the same events as I did in Finland, the 5km road race, 400m, 800m and 1500m on the track. It's not like going to the Olympic Games though where the main contenders are well known. You don't know who will be at a Transplant Games until you get there.
"I was selected for the Great Britain team last September and my training since then has been focused on being stronger and faster than I was at the last year's European Games. My family are travelling out to support me and while illness and injury are always a potential problem I'll be giving it my best shot to give them plenty to cheer about."
