From May 7 to 12, Dunkirk welcomes the 30e National games for transplant and dialysis patients. About 150 participants, from all over France, are registered for this event, which is held in a different city every year. In addition to sports events, this event is also an opportunity to raise public awareness about organ donation.
Cycling, swimming, athletics, bowling, rowing, table tennis, climbing, etc., in total, more than 24 disciplines are shown on National games for transplant and dialysis patients (JNTD) which for its 30e edition, are held in Dunkirk, in the north. Organized by Transformof the French Federation of Transplanted and Dialyzed Athletes, this event is not only a sporting competition, it is also, and perhaps above all, an excuse to organize time to discuss with the public a subject that is often difficult to access.
A found life
“We don’t talk about it enough, assesses Rémi Blampain, kidney transplant recipient and local coordinator for the organization of the 2024 Games. Organ donation remains a taboo topic because it is associated with death. We only see the dark side of donating, but it is also giving life: we can save up to six lives. » Not forgetting the gift of life, from which Boulonnais, born with a kidney malformation that deprived him of the use of his left kidney, could benefit: “I was lucky that my mother was a compatible donor when my right kidney started to fail.” Transplanted in 2008, at the age of 25, he speaks “returning life”. Rediscovered and supported by sports activity. His first participation in the JNTD dates back to 2016. While waiting in the waiting room of the transplant center at the University Hospital of Amiens-Picardie, Rémi Blampain was drawn to a poster announcing the upcoming National Transplant Games and dialyzed in Saint-Priest, near Lyon. A lifelong athlete (basketball, badminton, running, etc.), this discovery encouraged him: he decided to register.
In addition to the surprise that he is in such a large number and the pleasure that he feels less lonely, he also points out the benefits of physical activity for his health, whether it is about tolerance to immunosuppressants, the treatment that needs to be taken every day or the prevention of their unwanted effects, especially in terms of loss of muscle tone, cardiovascular risk or diabetes, or even exercise-related benefits. “Sport contributes to my overall balance”summarizes.
A very inspiring model
If today the practice of physical activity is recommended for the prevention of chronic diseases, both in physical and psychiatric medicine, thirty years ago this was not exactly the case, and even less so in the field of transplantation and dialysis. In this sense, emphasizes Professor Sébastien Dharancy, hepatologist, medical director of the Lille CHRU Transplantation Center and Secretary General French-speaking transplant societythese games were, according to him, at the forefront of this shift, which for about ten years consisted of returning exercise to the center of health, even before scientific work confirmed the interest of this approach. “The message of these 30e of games means that, regardless of your health condition, sport is very important. For transplant recipients, this helps prevent numerous complications, especially metabolic ones, but also cancer (breast, colon, etc.). Thirty years ago we did not know that these people were at a very high risk of cancer. Sport also promotes sleep and has a proven anxiolytic effect. Finally, in terms of society and quality of life, they can lead an almost normal life. They can work, have children, women, and even competedeveloped by Professor Dharancy. It is a very inspiring model for the general population. »
As for whether this example can convince the French to commit more to donating, that’s another question. But it occurs even in worrying conditions. Namely, according to the data of the Agency for Biomedicine for the year 2023, transplantation activity has not yet returned to the level before the Covid pandemic. Last year, 5,634 organ transplants were performed, compared with 5,901 in 2019 and 6,105 in 2017. As a result, 823 patients on the waiting list died in 2023 – not counting all cases deemed too serious to be transplanted and, as such , removed from the list. Due to the lack of sufficient donations, and to focus only on this organ, about 200 people die every year waiting for a liver. “We all agree to receive, but we do not give”, laments Professor Dharancy. As a reminder, the rejection rate is 36.1% – an increase of 9.1% compared to 2022. “It’s a real challenge, so we have to keep communicating. And it is very good to connect sport, the bearer of vital energy and movement, with organ donation, which is related to grieving, to mark that continuity of life through donation”continues the medical director of the transplant center Lille CHRU.
A generous person
Putting donation on the side of life also requires the testimony of the donors’ loved ones. Yves Copin, 77, is one of them. He will speak at a public conference organized as part of these 30e Games, on the theme of “Organ donation and transplantation”, to tell their story, painful and bright. In May 2019, his wife died suddenly of a severe stroke. Yves Copin is approached by a nurse in charge of hospital coordination of organ and tissue samples from the hospital in Dunkirk where Joëlle was treated. “ My wife and I never talked about it, but she was very generous and very close to people. Given her personality, she wouldn’t protest. And since, in addition, we had no children, it was probably also a way of giving life to people waiting for a transplant. His liver and one kidney were removed,” a man confides to us who has been calling the coordination team from time to time for five years to get news about the two people who continue to live thanks to his wife. At the end of this ordeal, Yves Copin expressed his desire to participate in awareness-raising actions: “At that time, in conversations with the nurse coordinators, I realized that there were few donations, about one a month, and even then… It’s really not a lot”.
An observation shared by all transplant practitioners. “I am surprised that there is no awareness of planned organ donation in middle and high schools,” remarks Rémi Blampain who is delighted that the students from the Municipal School of Art (EMA) of Dunkirk have embraced the theme and designed a creation that will be visible during these 30e JNTD, before being the subject of an exhibition in the municipal area, not forgetting the street theater performances to defend organ donation as close as possible to the population. If the 2019 petanque world runner-up – JNTD is also available at the European and international level – this year will not wear any jersey, monopolized by the organization of these 30e National Games, intends to wear his jersey to promote organ donation and, why not, break attendance records!