2023-04-28 06:30:19
Emmanuel Gastaud returned from Perth with three charms around his neck. “One in bronze for the 5 km team run, one in gold for the same distance, but individually, and a second of the same metal, the most beautiful, for the triathlon in sprint format, in the 40 category. -49 years old, ”says this resident of Cagnes-sur-Mer (Alpes-Maritimes), still “jet-lagué” following his return from Australia. The country’s fourth-largest city last week hosted the 24th World Transplant Games, “the world’s largest awareness event” for organ donation, according to organizers.
“It helps to save lives but also to live well. This is the message we want to send by participating in this event, ”supports Emmanuel Gastaud, 42, himself twice transplanted kidney. This employee of the Mercantour National Park is proof of that. Athlete as soon as his state of health allowed him to, he already became, in 2017, the first transplant patient to have climbed Mont-Blanc on ski touring. And these three new medals are, for him, “one more victory of life over illness”.
Completed 500m swim, 20km bike and 5km run in just under an hour [59 minutes et 20 secondes]that’s a hell of a performance…
Merci [rires], but it’s still a lot worse than the time a non-transplanted person might have achieved. It is recognized by doctors and by athletes who have themselves undergone a transplant: our performance is diminished. There are physiological causes for this. Transplant patients may have high blood pressure and other related issues. I, for example, have a lot of anemia. Treatments also influence. They tire us. We do our best to train, but there is a level that we cannot exceed. I became aware of this during the championship. At the level of the first places, we are all in a pocket handkerchief.
What do these world champion titles mean to you?
Before the results, these games are above all a superb celebration, with a lot of benevolence between athletes. We’re all in the same boat [rires]. There was even the oldest transplant patient in France, who celebrated 40 years of transplantation. The medals, for me, it is above all a victory over the disease. Personally, I had a problem at birth, they had to remove a kidney. I lived like this for a large part of my childhood, but my kidney function deteriorated. My first transplant was performed when I was 17. I had chronic rejection for ten years, then they had to put me back on dialysis. I then waited four years for the new transplant. I was 31 years old. Since then it’s been fine, but I know very well that this kidney won’t be for life. We’ll have to go back there but I don’t know when. This is the difficulty. You have to live with that. But that’s what makes you want to enjoy every moment, every moment. To go all out in everything we do. There is a certain urgency when faced with this.
Is that why these championships also have a communication vocation?
They are above all made for that. In my opinion, anyway. These competitions give even more legitimacy to organ donation. It saves lives, we already knew that. But also to live well. These world games are an opportunity to meet, discuss, but above all to show all that. To send a message.
Because organ donation is not developed enough?
In France, things are stagnating. In effect. It hasn’t moved for years. Despite the 2017 law which reinforces the idea of presumed consent, there is still a third of refusal. That’s why it’s very important to talk regarding it with the family, who ultimately decide. When some parents or spouses are confronted with the near and sudden death of one of their own, if they refuse to have the organs removed, it is notably through ignorance. For lack of time also because the decision must be given very quickly. If the lives of transplant recipients were put forward more, I think we would probably be able to go further in this area. At present, in France, nearly 11,000 people are waiting for an organ to revive. While in 2022, only 5,500 transplants were performed.
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