Jul 9, 2008 8:42 am US/Eastern
Health Watch: Organ Transplants
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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Debbie Greenberg received a heart transplant 3.5 years ago. Now she runs track.
CBS
Debbie Greenberg was dying. Her heart was so enlarged and diseased that it could barely pump enough blood to keep her alive. Today she is training for the annual transplant games. She runs the 200 and 400 meter races, all after a heart transplant 3.5 years ago.
"I was over 200 pounds and my liver was engorged
with blood and was very painful, and yes it was hard to breath, hard
to walk," Debbie said.
"I'm doing everything and more than people do in their life and my life is beyond my expectation," Debbie said.
Many people know of basketball stars like Alonzo Mourning who went back to the NBA after a kidney transplant, but there are several thousand transplant recipients who compete every year in the National Kidney Foundation's "Transplant Games," Olympic-style competition in track and field, swimming, and cycling.
You don't have to be a serious athlete to compete. It's open to any transplant recipient: heart, lungs, kidneys, livers and more, all are welcome.
The message is that organ transplants aren't experimental, esoteric procedures anymore.
"It's really the gift of living a full productive life...Being back in society, working, living, loving, and having children and even competing in sports," said Elaine Berg, N.Y. Organ Donor Network.
Debbie won two gold medals in the games last year, all by starting out just barely walking on a treadmill.
She does both for herself and to honor her heart donor.
"It's about life and its about remembering the donor families and what they did," Debbie said.
Is she used to people calling her a jock? "No, but its nice," she said.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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