Transplant games celebrate perseverance

During the two-day event, participants ranging in age from 9 to 78 from 21 provincial-level regions across the country competed in various events, including track and field, table tennis, badminton and tug-of-war.

The transplants they'd received included kidney, liver, lung and bone marrow, according to the China Organ Transplantation Development Foundation, which hosted the event with the Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology and Tongji Hospital.

"The transplant games are aimed at demonstrating advances in transplantation technologies, encouraging recipients to reengage in social activities and spread awareness about organ donation," said Chen Zhonghua, a professor at Tongji Hospital's Institute of Organ Transplantation and one of the founders of China's first transplant games held in 2004.

Chen said that after successfully receiving a new organ, most transplant patients can resume normal, active lives as perfectly healthy people, except that they need to take immunosuppressant medication for the rest of their lives. "They are also encouraged to exercise regularly and moderately to keep fit."

Xuanxuan ran the first leg in the 4x100m relay, representing a team comprising transplant recipients from the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University in Zhengzhou, Henan province.

Though a competition, the event is more about awareness and solidarity rather than raw pace and professionalism.

"I only came here to relax myself, enjoy running and learn more about the field of organ donation. It's given me a second chance at life, so the result doesn't matter to me," he said.

Xuanxuan's condition of constant coughing and breathing difficulties first emerged at age 3 due to an allergic reaction. By the time he reached high school, these symptoms had become his constant companion.

"Before the surgery, it would take me at least 10 minutes to walk from my classroom to the nearest restroom at my high school," he said. "So it's already a miracle that I am standing here."