People who have received organ transplants, and people who have donated organs, will be participating in an Olympic-style sporting event this weekend in Cleveland. The city is hosting this year’s Transplant Games of America.
The more than 20 events include running, swimming, ballroom dancing and poker. More than 7,000 people are expected to come to Cleveland for the Transplant Games of America…and more than 3,000 of them will participate. Northeast Ohio-based Life-banc is one the game’s hosts. CEO Gordon Bowen says shining a light on the need for organ donation is one of the goals.
“I think it’s an opportunity just to show awareness of the success of transplant. And then the opportunity that donation is a great thing to do and look at all the positive stories that come out of that and watch these individuals run down a track or throw a beanbag for cornhole or swim like any normal person is able to do.”
Bowen says across the country about 125,000 people are waiting for an organ transplant, and each day at least one of them dies before a donor is found.