A poster boy for life after transplant

[okarol]

From The Sunday Times
May 16, 2010
A poster boy for life after transplant

Adam Phillips, 16, from Thatcham in Berkshire, was diagnosed with bilateral dysplasia at three weeks and has been under the care of Great Ormond Street ever since. He was transplanted with his father’s kidney at 25 months (and photographed with the Princess of Wales when she opened the new renal unit in 1997). This early treatment meant his development was unaffected.

In 2007 he was chosen to represent Great Britain in the World Transplant Games in Thailand, winning gold medals in the 100 metres and long jump, a poster boy for life after transplant.

“My illness has given me the chance to do amazing things I would never have done if I’d been well,” he smiles.

The next games are in 2011, and he doesn’t know if he will have a new kidney in time to compete. Last year he was told that he needed another transplant: the kidney that was predicted to last for five years had begun to fail after 13, and Adam had to start on dialysis.
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“He says, ‘Mum, this is just a blip,’ ” says his mother, Vanessa. “He’s like his dad. You could run him over with a steamroller and he wouldn’t notice. He knows he didn’t lose his kidney because he did something wrong.”

With GCSEs looming, it was bad timing. “We’d have liked him to have at least done his GCSEs and then taken a year out to deal with this.”

For now, life is a waiting game. Teachers from the hospital’s school sit by his big blue machine to help Adam stay on top of his studies. He needs at least five As and Bs in his GCSEs to continue towards his chosen career as a PE teacher.


http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article7119942.ece