This story was originally published by Reasons to be Cheerful
2 min read
Robert Lindemann is a 32-year-old accountant from Germany. He’s also had a heart transplant, a life-changing experience shared by just a few hundred people each year in his country.
But at the Transplant Games, he doesn’t stand out — and that’s something of a relief. “It sounds a bit weird when I say you don’t feel special here, because everybody has a special story,” he says.
Lindemann was among the 600 athletes who traveled to Arnhem in the Netherlands in June for the European Transplant Games. This Olympics-style, week-long event is open to organ or stem cell transplant recipients, people undergoing dialysis, living donors and family members of both living and deceased donors. Some are serious athletes who train year-round; others are beginners, slowly building up strength by trying new sports — like Lindemann, who chose bowling, pétanque and shotput.
He first dipped a toe in at last year’s World Transplant Games, around eight months after his operation. There, talking to peers helped him adapt to a post-transplant life in which “everything was new.” The same support network motivated his trip to Arnhem this year.
The post The ‘Transplant Games’ Are About More Than Medals appeared first on Reasons to be Cheerful.
