Karen's transplant games success

By Victoria Bartlett
BBC Hampshire & Isle of Wight

Karen's next goal is to be selected for the World Transplant Games

"I'm not restored to who I was before the heart transplant - but to a state that I have never been.

"That is a state of good health, where I feel alive, where I can do sport and have energy. My life is transformed," says Karen Jackson from Liphook.

The 41-year-old solicitor was born with a heart condition, which led to her heart collapsing in 2004.

A transplant not only gave her a second chance at life but enabled her to become a medal-winning athlete.

Heart problems

Karen had a hereditary heart condition, which killed her mother at the age of 50.

Her own health remained stable until she was 39, when she had to be fitted with a pacemaker and defibrillator.

Unfortunately they failed to improve her health - she was told she would need a heart transplant or she would be dead within 18 months.

Karen was put on the transplant register: "I was warned when I was put on the list I could have a long wait because I'm above average height for a woman and was told I may not get one in time."

Luckily she only had to wait six months for a heart to be found.

Karen said: "When I woke up two days later, I was astonished to feel this roaring heartbeat - it was so loud I couldn't focus on anything else - after years of having to feel around for the faintest pulse.

"I've always been outgoing and lively but I've never had the physical energy to match my mental energy and now I do! I have a whiff of over-excited puppy about me now because life is so fantastic."

Thankful

After her operation, Karen woke up hearing her new heart beating

Karen said she feels very lucky as hundreds of people die every year waiting for a transplant.

She wanted to thank her donor's family: "It took me a year to write that letter - I was composing it in my head over and over again and couldn't find the right words.

"I wanted to shout from the rooftops about how wonderful my life was but I was writing to people who had lost their child (and who were saying at the same time 'it's one year since he died.')"

"I wanted to find out the sex of the donor so when I wrote this letter I could say thank you for the wonderful gift properly - it was a man whose parents and partner gave consent to it. I didn't find out any more information than that - not where he was from or how he died."

Transplant Games

Just two years after her transplant, Karen went to the British Transplant Games in Sheffield.

The aim of The Games is to encourage transplant patients to regain fitness and to promote friendship between those affected by transplantation, whilst increasing public awareness of the value of organ donation.

The first Transplant Games was held in Portsmouth in 1978. It has now evolved into an annual four-day event incorporating a wide variety of sports for all age groups.

Karen said: "I went there in 2008 and came back with three medals - one of each colour. I was competing alongside 700 other athletes who had had bone marrow, kidney, liver, heart and lung transplants.

Karen competing in lane six, having mastered her dive after many lessons!

"I met people there who made my story seem insignificant. It was very inspiring."

In the 2009 games in Coventry she competed in a speed-walking race, badminton and four swimming events.

She came back with a gold medal for the 3km walk. She added: "The most remarkable thing is that I felt great after doing all my events on the same day. Last year I was so unfit I nearly died at the end of it. It just goes to show how strong and fit I am getting."

Karen has now also joined the Board of Trustees of Transplant Sport UK. She will be making decisions about future games and raising the profile of organ donation in the UK.

Karen said: "I am absolutely over the moon to be able to give something back. I hope that we can achieve greater coverage of the games in future.

"The main aims of the games are to raise the profile of transplantation and increase the number of donors but also to help transplantees back to health by giving them a goal.

"My next personal goal is to get good enough to be selected for the World Transplant Games - I WILL be going!"

Before that takes place Karen will keep herself busy training for regular volleyball tournaments, the European Heart and Lung Games in Sweden in June 2010 and the British Transplant Games in Bath in August 2010.

Organ Donation

"I wasn't going to let anyone past in my 3km race!" says Karen (centre)

More than 9,000 people need an organ transplant in the UK.

In the year 2007-08, a record 3,237 people's lives were transformed by a transplant. More than one in four of all transplants are from living donors.

Karen continued: "When I was sick a lot of my friends admitted that they had never thought about organ donation. It only takes three minutes to go online and fill in your details. The research shows that 96% would happily accept an organ if they needed one but only a quarter of the population have signed up to the register."

Karen says her whole life has changed thanks to her donor - but not just physically: "The difference in me is that I'm not afraid of things because how bad can it get?

"I'm been to the edge, looked over, been given this new life and now I'm living for today - I'm not worried about tomorrow.

"That can be annoying for people because I can be evangelical about it, but life is beautiful and people don't appreciate it until they've seen the worst. You should live every day."