Called to Care Living Mission Every day - Karen - Flipbook - Page 28
Homecoming Hero: Edelle Collins is welcomed home in Dublin Airport after a
fantastic achievement in the Transplant Games
From ICU to Podium
Five years after wishing she could simply stand and look out the
ICU window, Edelle Collins is now a European Games medalist.
She tells Mission Matters her story
T
he European Transplant and
Dialysis Games are for
transplant recipients, dialysis
patients, living donors and their
families. As a double lung transplant
recipient and a dialysis patient, these
Games were established for people
just like me.
I competed in Pétanque (Boules) and
Darts. Thanks to coaching by the
Transplant Sport Ireland team
manager, my Pétanque game
improved quickly and I practiced
regularly. Once the Games came
around, I felt ready to represent
Ireland on the international stage.
Similarly with Darts, I practiced each
evening, refining my technique and
striving to hold my own against
Europe’s best players. To my absolute
delight, I won a bronze medal.
Standing on that podium, I couldn’t
help but think how far I’d come from
the days when simply sitting myself up
in bed felt like an achievement.
My health since having my transplant
has not reached the level I’d hoped for
and dialysis makes daily life
significantly more difficult. Fatigue
remains a constant battle and building
strength now takes much longer.
However at the Games, I met people
from across Europe facing many of the
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