“It was a very complicated period, with many fears, many fears about the future, whether I would be able to see my daughters grow up”. The bad moments in more than 10 years of dealing with kidney failure no longer scare physical education teacher Ramon Lima, 40 years old.
In 2020, he received a compatible organ and, today, he has found in sport a way to encourage organ donation and “show society that transplanted people are not a public that has numerous restrictions, that they cannot do anything”.
Ramon is the founder of the newly created Liga de Athletes Transplantados do Brasil and is preparing to compete in the World Transplant Games 2023, in Australia.
He says that the practice of sports, in addition to all the health benefits, contributes to the self-esteem of transplant patients.
“I could see that there is, yes, the possibility for us to have a normal life. Sport gave me motivation, it took away that anguish, that fear. We play, we train and we can show others, and ourselves, that it is possible”, she points out.
The nephrologist doctor Alexandre Tortoza Bignelli agrees, but points out that attention is needed in contact sports, such as martial arts.
“There is no full limitation for these transplant patients. They can perform virtually all tasks. I have patients who play tennis, soccer, run, swim, so, in general, they manage to have an activity close to a person who is not transplanted”, explains the doctor who is coordinator of the Renal Transplant Service at the Cajuru University Hospital , in Curitiba, and has accompanied Ramon throughout the treatment.
Bignelli recalls that, even in “so-called healthy” people, it is important to make a prior assessment for the practice of physical activities. “It may be that an exercise that is good for one person is not suitable for another. And you have to have at least a sense of the cardiovascular condition of these patients to indicate the correct amount of physical activity”, she guides. He also highlights that they have regular monitoring, which ensures greater control. “These patients, in general, are already evaluated with recurrence because the transplanted person has a need to take drugs to reduce their defense, so as not to have rejection.”
The Liga de Athletes Transplantados do Brasil is in the process of formalizing it to become an association. “We have 20 athletes, at the moment, already thinking about the Worlds”, says Ramon. He adds that other athletes are also mobilized to obtain sponsorship to participate in the games, bringing the Brazilian delegation to around 30 competitors. “The main objective [da federação dos jogos mundiais de transplantados] is to be recognized, in a few years, as another Olympics, as it was with the Paralympics”, says the professor.
Awareness
Ramon, who practices athletics, highlights that sport is an important ally for the physical and mental health of transplant recipients. “We still have lower immunity, but physical activity provides an improvement in this immunity and, consequently, fewer diseases and fewer hospitalizations and everything else”, he points out.
He adds, however, that these initiatives give visibility to the importance of organ donation. “Many people don’t know that you need to tell your family that you want to be a donor, in case something happens”, he reinforces.
Bignelli explains that donation in Brazil is not presumed. “It means that when the person is a candidate to donate organs, he will be brain dead and the decision to donate is up to the family. So, if a person wants to donate organs, they have to express this possibility in life to their family members”, he guides. About this decision, he recalls that “we have a much better chance in life that someone will donate an organ to us than we donate”.
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