TransplantSweden Sports Association
The TransplantSweden Sports Association (TSSA) was founded in January 2004. It existed before as an organizing team, mainly under the Swedish Association of Kidney Patients, for swedes wanting to go to The World Transplant Games. TSSA is open for anyone transplanted or undergoing dialysis and of course also anyone involved in the process, like doctors, nurses, relatives and of course the donor families. For the moment there are 50 members in the association and it is growing as more and more people become aware of the transplantsituation in Sweden and TSSA.
Sweden has had participants in the World Transplant Games regularly since 1989 and the first games that saw a swede was in Amsterdam in 1984. The last ten years has seen many swedes participate and the interest for the games has increased. Thoughts of starting a gathering organization has been discussed for a long time, both to inspire transplant patients to comeback faster to a normal life with sports and to make Sweden and the swedes aware of the situation concerning organ donation and the transplant situation.
One of the main objectives for the TSSA is to focus on the transplant situation in Sweden. Many people are waiting for a transplant of some kind and TSSA is one way of making people in Sweden aware of the need of donors and show that one can live one’s life to the fullest after a transplantation.
Another purpose of the association is to lift the discussion around the transplant situation and make it less dramatic. Talking about life and death has always been a bit of a taboo. Instead of facts the discussions around the transplant situation has been “infected” by myths and hearsay. TSSA can, and will be, one of the sources that can set the record straight andturn question marks into exclamation marks. TSSA works closely with hospitals, patient communities and government institutions.
The future for TransplantSweden Sports Association looks bright as the form has been set with clear goals and plans for the years to come. To gather all kinds of transplanted people under one sports umbrella is a good thing. It is positive to be able to exchange experiences from all transplant perspectives and have fun at the same time. Sports unite both locally and worldwide.