The state capital Dresden and Germany’s sports club for transplant recipients and dialysis patients, TransDia Sport Deutschland, expect 2,500 participants from all over the world. They will come together to compete in sporting events in the Saxon capital for one week. All of them have survived thanks to an organ transplant and are only able to compete again because they received a timely heart, liver, kidney, or lung transplant.
“It is a tremendous success that Dresden has won the bid to host this very special World Championship. The joy of life of the participants, who had to fear for their lives while waiting for a donor organ and are now coming together for an international sports festival, I will share wholeheartedly. I look forward to experiencing the athletes’ gratitude for the life-saving organ donations, through which they can now compete again for medals in stadiums, on tennis courts, or cycling tracks in front of an audience,” Elke Büdenbender said on the occasion of assuming the patronage.
Gudrun Manuwald-Seemüller, Chair of TransDia Sport Deutschland and a member of the Board of Trustees of the World Transplant Games Federation, is pleased about the patronage: “The support of the World Transplant Games by Elke Büdenbender is a strong sign of welcome to the athletes from around the world. We appreciate this extraordinary recognition for transplant recipients, patients on the waiting list, and the relatives of deceased organ donors, who not only hold a firm place in our hearts but are also welcomed as members of our community in Dresden.”
Text: Agentur Sender und Empfänger; Photo: Sven Döring (DML-BY) / Agentur Focus
