Team Philly racks up more than 100 medals at 2024 Transplant Games of America

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (KYW Newsradio) — The 2024 Transplant Games of America wrapped up Wednesday in Birmingham, Alabama. Team Philly has made quite a showing , racking up more than 100 medals.

Team Philly’s youngest member, 8-year-old Brandon Leathers, a kidney recipient, won one of those medals: a silver, in darts. But Brandon says making new friends has been the best part.

“When we were at the bowling alley, and then we just — I started to talk to them, and then we turned into good buddies,” he said.

Brandon says it’s easy to make friends when he’s with other organ transplant recipients — “because they're like me, it feels to me. There's nothing different, except their name and what they look like.”

Brandon’s mom Carla says it’s a relief for the both of them.

“He's been having a hard time the past couple of months — feeling like he's different than other kids. And it's been really hard on him, emotionally. And he said, after being here for two days, he said that he's never felt like he was more a part of something.”

The Transplant Games of America are held every two years to draw attention to the benefits of organ transplantation and the need for donors. Transplant-recipient and living-donor athletes compete in basketball, swimming, golf, bowling, tennis, track and field, volleyball, cycling — even ballroom dancing — and more.

Nilsa Edmonds is celebrating 25 years since she received a liver. She’s been attending the Games with her donor’s mother since 2000, and she says her favorite part is interacting with donor families.

“It's special, because their loved one may be gone, but they still live through us. Every donor family that I see — I don't care who it is — I just thank them all the time, because if it wasn't for them, we wouldn't be here.”

Team Philly comprises more than 130 adults and children of all abilities, including donors and recipients, donor family members, Gift of Life staff and other supporters. Team members range in age from 8 to 78.

Since its inception, Team Philadelphia has participated in the Games, when they traveled to Athens, Greece, for the International Transplant Games. The first U.S. Transplant Games event was in 1990.

This is the first Transplant Games for Ta’Mar Ellensworth, a double lung recipient who will soon celebrate 15 years since her transplant.

She’s never met the family of the woman whose lungs saved her live, but she says, after attending the Games, she wants to try again.

“I did the 5K for her as a lung transplant,” Ellsworth said. “I would like them to know that I'm taking good care of her lungs. And I'm doing my best to honor her in my everyday life.”

There are more than 100,000 people across the country, and 5,000 people in the Philadelphia region, currently waiting for an organ transplant.