Pam Lane,
World Transplant Games Medalist.
SKF Member and former primary school teacher Pam, who is married with two adult children and lives in Rufford, has been a member of the Leyland Barracudas since last September. She said: “I competed in the British Transplant Games in Liverpool and thought I wanted to join a swimming club and the Leyland Barracudas was the one I decided to join and I’m really glad I did.” Plymouth-born Pam added that her transplant truly was a life-changing experience and she said she was excited about going to the World Transplant Games. “I’m really delighted, but really nervous,” she said. “Obviously it’s a daunting prospect really.” Pam, 54, was aged 21 when she was told she had inherited a kidney disease that would result in her needing a transplant .
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She battled on for twenty years before her kidneys failed completely. Unusually she had both kidneys removed at once and spent the next six-and-a-half years on dialysis. In 2012 she got the life-saving news that a donor match had been found and she underwent the transplant. Never having been a competitive sports person, she decided she owed it to herself, her family and the donor’s family to keep healthy, so took up swimming and badminton. In 2015, some three years after her transplant, a friend told her about the GB Transplant Games in Newcastle so she gave it a go, competing in swimming and volleyball. Pleased to achieve a medal it spurred her on to compete in the games in Liverpool in 2016. She won Gold, Silver and two bronze, and was delighted when some two months later she received the news that she had been selected for the GB team, something she had never imagined possible.
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At the World Transplant games, held at Malaga in June 2017, Pam represented Team GB and achieved two Siiver Medals and a Bronze Medal. For a normal person to be the world's second best athlete in any given sport is an amazing feat, but as Pam is transplanted and in her 50's, it is much more remarkable. Pam hopes that her achievements will encourage other transplant patients to take up sport, and possibly even better her achievements.
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At the 2019 British Transplant games, Pam added a Trio of medals to her ever growing haul. Pam took Gold in the 50M Backstroke, Silver in the 50M Freestyle, and bronze in the 50M breaststroke. At the World transplant games, Pam finished first place in the 100M Backstroke for her age group, and fourth place in the 50M Freestyle, as well as finishing 7th on the 50M Breaststroke.
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Zac Stanley
British Transplant Games
Bronze Medalist.
Also competing at the 2019 British Transplant Games was another SKF Patient, Zak Stanley. Zak took the Bronze in the 25M Backstroke, representing Alder Hey Children's Hospital.
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Portions of this article were taken from the Leyland Guarian's website. The full aticle can be found at http://www.leylandguardian.co.uk/sport/more-sport/swimmers-making-a-splash-at-worldwide-games-1-8526014