Salisbury woman competing in British Transplant Games

A heart transplantee from Salisbury is competing in the final day of the British transplant games in Oxford today.

Lucy Ryan had her life saving surgery as a 2 year old and is preparing to compete in the ball throw and the 100m sprint.

Yesterday, she took part in the three kilometre walk, a competition she won a silver medal in at the World Transplant Games in Australia in 2023.

Asked what makes the Games so special, Lucy said: "It's the atmosphere, it's the community, because it is like a big family.

"Everyone there is either a donor or a transplantee, so they've had a life changing or a life saving transplant, and they've just seen the benefits of it."

She told us that, in some cases, people have gone from not being able to get out of bed and walk to another room to running 100m, describing it as "almost like a miracle".

She added: "It's great fun, lots of socialising, but also lots of competitive sporting with a good sports spirit."

Lucy told us her birth was traumatic, according to doctors.

"They don't think I enjoyed being born and potentially had a heart attack," she explained, adding that there hadn't been any pre-existing concerns with her mum's scans before Lucy was born.

It left her with a leaky heart valve, and spent much of her early life at Great Ormond Street in London. Doctors managed to nurse her too almost three years old, repairing the heart valve and replacing another, before the heart transplant was carried out.

"This was the early 90s, and they'd only been doing paediatric heart transplants in the UK for about 5 years. So all they could tell my parents is she might get five years, we don't know," Lucy said.

But 32 years later, Lucy is thriving, having just graduated from University in Salford and preparing to take part in the World Transpant Games later this month in Germany.

She's urging others to consider donating their organs saying it's will save lives: "It's the best gift you could ever give anyone."

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