Road to the 2012 Transplant Games

Gift of Life Donor Program | Patrice

With the Transplant Games of America a little more than a month away, Gift of Life Donor Program and Team Philly are gearing up to travel to Grand Rapids, Michigan! All of our Team Philly members are preparing themselves to compete, celebrate and commemorate in honor of donation. During the upcoming weeks, we will be following three Team Philly athletes as they prepare for the Transplant Games. This week, our three athletes introduce themselves as they invite the transplant community to follow their journey to the Games!

Joelle Atkinson- Kidney/kidney-liver recipient

I never considered myself an athlete. Growing up, I was always the dancer – the artist. As the shortest in my class, I never threw a basketball and hated running on a soccer field. I jumped and twirled across the dance floor, hoping one day to be a graceful ballerina or a Rockette.

It wasn’t until I was eight years old and competed in my first Transplant Games in 1998 that I realized that I was an athlete after all. Growing up the transplantation, organ donation and Gift of Life communities were fixtures in my life. I gave my first speech when I was five, and when I was 11, I was spelling my disease – Infantile Polycystic Kidney Disease – to large crowds at Center City parties.
Read more: http://www.donors1.org/blog/2012/06/18/road-to-the-2012-transplant-games/