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Transplant Team Ireland

Countdown to World Transplant Games - Sweden 2011   2011-6-17 17:00:00 GMT+00:00

Home arrow Athletes arrow John Loftus arrow John ‘The Bullet’ Loftus Goes in Search of World Gold Medal
John ‘The Bullet’ Loftus Goes in Search of World Gold Medal PDF Print E-mail
Written by Colin White   
Saturday, 25 July 2009
ImageA well-known Co. Limerick man is off to Australia next month (AUGUST) with the Irish team for the World Transplant Games – aiming to capture a 100m gold medal he missed by a fraction of a second at the last World Games two years ago.
Financial consultant John Loftus, Clarina, was pipped on the finishing line for gold in a thrilling100m final that proved one of the highlights of the 2007 World Games in Bangkok.

Last year John, who almost died from a rare virus in 1992 and eight years ago underwent a kidney transplant, continued his good international form with a scintillating 100m victory at the European Transplant & Dialysis Games. This sensational performance earned him the nickname ‘The Bullet’ – he defeated the highly-rated Spaniard Mario Diaz in that final, and Diaz will be competing in Australia too.

John will also renew rivalry with Derek Johnson, the United Kingdom athlete who has assembled a huge haul of UK and World medals during a long career in transplant athletics.

Image“I am hopeful of doing well, but, in reality, it is not about the winning at these Games. It is about transmitting the message of organ donation – we want people to realise that your organs are needed here on earth after death,” said John, who will be joined at the Games by his wife Trish, daughter Tara, mother-in-law Josephine Lipper, and his son’s girlfriend Linda Moran.

In their own eyes, all 19 team members are winners already by just getting to the starting line in the life-affirming games. Between them, the Irish team have 13 new kidneys, five new livers and one new kidney-pancreas.

The squad will travel to Gold Coast, Australia, on Tuesday, August 18th. “Before the transplant I was on home dialysis for a year which was tough. I was attached to a machine for ten hours every night so I had to structure my life around the dialysis,” he explained.

He played hurling, soccer, rugby and Gaelic football, in which he captained Ballybrown to a county title. Hurling is his main sporting passion and he co-managed the Ballybrown hurling team to an All-Ireland senior club final in 1990.

John recently opened a new brokerage – Thomond Asset Management – on O’Connell Street in the heart of Limerick.

He held a successful fund-raising barbecue for the team in De Bucket, Ferry Bridge, Clarina. “I am very grateful to all who supported the event,” he said. John will compete in the sprint events, ball-throw, lawn bowls and ten pin bowls at the Games.

“It’s not really about winning, it’s all about taking part. We honour our donors by showing that organ transplantation works. That’s a vital message to promote as the need for a life-saving organ transplant can visit a family with devastating speed, and at any age, even babies and children,” said team captain Mick Dwyer, who ten years ago had a kidney transplant.

Team manager Colin White paid tribute to the determination of the athletes taking part. “They have worked very hard to prepare for the Games, and they will help to show the world that you can enjoy a great life after receiving a transplant,” he said.

The full Irish team is:
Paul Donohoe (Cavan); Michael Dwyer (captain, Dublin); Deirdre Faul (vice-captain, Dublin); Tony Gartland (Wicklow); James Hannon (Longford);  John Loftus (Limerick); Philip Martin (Dublin); Tom Metcalfe (Dublin); Linda Meyler (Galway); Catherine Murphy (Cork); James Nolan (Kildare); John Paul O’Neill (Kilkenny); Paul Prendergast (Dublin); Orla Hogan-Ryan (Tipperary); Charlie Ryan (Cork); Leonard Ryan (Dublin); Angela Sherlock (Dublin); Harry Ward (Dublin); and Vienna White (Donegal.)
The team will be accompanied by manager Colin White; team doctor Emer Kilbride; physio Clare Hogan; and Mark Murphy, the CEO of the Irish Kidney Association, who is also a member of the World Transplant Games governing body. The team kit is sponsored by Shire Pharmaceuticals.

A special website has been built – www.transplantteamireland.com – where supporters can follow the team’s progress and send on messages of support. The site profiles each athlete and will carry daily updates on how the athletes are getting on.

For an organ donor card FREETEXT the word ‘DONOR’ to 50050.
 
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