Team Illinois wins 39 gold, silver and bronze medals in SLC

More than 8,000 people attended the 2018 Transplant Games held Aug. 2-7 in Salt Lake City. Representing Team Illinois were 32 athletes and 45 loyal supporters. Among the athletes competing for Illinois were 13 kidney recipients, four heart transplant recipients, eight liver recipients, one bone graft/tissue recipient, one kidney/pancreas recipient, and one stem cell transplant recipient. Together they brought home 39 medals, including 14 gold, 12 silver, and 13 bronze.

There were more than 20 competitive events on display at the Transplant Games. More strenuous events included badminton, racquetball, swimming, team basketball and volleyball, tennis and track and field. Others included corn hole, darts, bowling, or trivia.

Team Illinois transplant recipient athletes hailed from Batavia, Berwyn, Brookfield, Champaign, Chicago, Darien, Elmhurst, Evanston, Flossmoor, Garden Prairie, Havana, Hillsboro, Hoffman Estates, Itasca, Lake in the Hills, Lindenhurst, Lisle, Mokena, Naperville, Sycamore, Washington, and Yorkville. They ranged in age from 15 to 77 years old.

They represented transplant centers from all over the state of Illinois and elsewhere, including Christ Advocate Medical Center (Oak Lawn), Duke Medical Center (NC), Loyola, Lurie Children’s Hospital, the Mayo Clinic (Minnesota), Northwestern Medical Center, Rush University, Saint Louis University Hospital, Unity Point in Peoria, the University of Chicago, the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, and the University of Illinois-Chicago.

Read more about the athletes here.