This article is from page 85 of the 2007-09-25 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 85 JPG
CLARE athletes Jennifer Tuohy and Marie O’Connor were special guests of President Mary McAleese in Aras an Uachtarain as members of the Irish team that recently brought home a record haul of medals from the World Transplant Games.
President McAleese told the ath- letes they brought honour and glory to the country at the World Trans- plant Games in Bangkok earlier this month as part of the team that won an unprecedented 39 medals.
The President was so impressed by their triumphs that she invited the
team to a special reception in iNet an Uachtarain, where she compli- mented the Clare athletes for “bring- ing the issue of organ donation to a level of national prominence it never before enjoyed.”
“You should feel very proud of yourselves,’ she addded. “You have shown people that there can be a creat life after getting a transplant, and you have touched the lives of more people than you realise.
‘Maybe somebody was waiting for a transplant recently when they read about your exploits and it may have given them a lift, shown them what can be achieved after receiving a
transplant.”
Team manager Colin White said the reception at Aras an Uachtarain was the highlight of a roller-coaster month for the team. “We came home on a high to a great reception, but this is even better,’ he said.
The team, which has its own web- site www.lransplantTeamIreland. com, will compete in the 2009 World Transplant Games in Australia, and Ireland will host the European Trans- plant and Dialysis Games in 2010.