Derbyshire officer takes part in transplant games

A Derbyshire police officer has emphasised the importance of talking about organ donation after taking part in the Transplant Games.

PC Daniel Bird, who has been a police officer for 15 years, took part in the games last month after receiving a liver transplant in December last year after being diagnosed with an illness when he was 13-years-old.

After his operation, he was back at work in April, working in our Uniform Task Force - a specialist unit which responds to searches, warrants and planned operations.

The Transplant Games bring together teams of organ donors, recipients, and families of organ donors from around the country to take part in a variety of sports.

Representing the Nottingham Transplant Team, Daniel took part in golf, darts, and seven-a-side football over the four day event.

He said: “The games have an amazing atmosphere, they’re a motivation to regain or improve your fitness to take care of your new organ, and a chance to meet people who have been through the same experiences.”

After 18 months on the waiting list, Daniel received a liver and was discharged home just in time for Christmas last year, 11 days after his operation, “When these things happen, you do think why am I going through this? I never felt sorry for myself, but there are darker moments when you’re in pain.

“Meeting other people at the games reminds you ‘it’s not just me’, we’ve all been given a second chance to just get on with life and to go for it. It picks up something positive out of a traumatic time.”

Daniel has been back at work since April and is now able to resume most of his normal duties: “Because of the medication I have to take to manage my condition and transplant, I can’t do water searches anymore due to lower immunity.

“However, I’ve worked with my supervisors to become drone trained and worked to develop a policy so all teams have someone who can operate the drones to help searches.”

The Transplant Games take place in a different city each year and aim to increase public awareness of the need for more people to donate and discuss their choice with their families.

The opening ceremony saw everyone involved walking together into Nottingham Castle - not just the recipients of organs, but donors and families of donors too. Daniel said: “They’re the special ones, those who choose to donate their organs or the organs of loved ones.

“It’s so important to have those conversations about organ donation, just in case. We always need more donors, as even with the opt out system it’s families making those decisions who need to know what their loved ones wanted often in the final stages of a loved one's life.”